Flight schedules at bigger airports continue to sag By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY Low-fare airlines and smaller jets are lifting flight schedules at a=20 handful of big airports to recovery a year after the attacks. But to the dismay of business travelers who like the flexibility of a wide= =20 choice of flights, most big airports offer many fewer flights a day than=20 they did on this day a year ago, according to a USA TODAY analysis of=20 airline schedules at airports around the country. (See chart, below). A=20 comparison of flight schedules for domestic and international flights now=20 with those in place before the attacks shows: =B7 Total flights planned this month are down about 9% from a year= ago. =B7 34 of 38 airports in USA TODAY's study have fewer departures, and= =20 seven of those are down about 20% or more. =B7 Departures at three of the nation's busiest airports =97 Atlanta,= =20 Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth =97 are down less than 10% from a year= ago. Many airlines are cutting flights on Wednesday's anniversary of the=20 attacks, and possibly for the week, because of reduced bookings. More=20 cutbacks in capacity are likely this fall at some airports. Several major=20 airlines recently have announced cutbacks in fall flying that likely were=20 not reflected in the data from OAG and Back Aviation Solutions that USA=20 TODAY reviewed. Despite steady increases in traffic in the winter and spring, the=20 improvements haven't continued and steep fare discounting has led to deep=20 losses for many big carriers. "The recession has turned out to be a lot=20 more significant than most of us thought back in January, February of this= =20 year," aviation consultant Jon Ash says. Industrywide, flying capacity is down about 9% over last year, Ash says.=20 And passenger boardings are down even more =97 nearly 11%, says the Air=20 Transport Association, the trade group for the nation's major airlines.=20 "That's in spite of our best efforts to get people back," says ATA chief=20 economist Dave Swierenga. "Carriers, recognizing that this process is going= =20 to take more time, have trimmed their schedules to match that lower level=20 of demand." Most industry officials now expect airline capacity to return=20 to 2000 levels next spring at the earliest, Ash says. The airports that are= =20 ahead of last year =97 and those furthest behind =97 may reflect their=20 airlines' rising or declining fortunes as much as anything. Kansas City,=20 for instance, now has almost a quarter fewer departures than a year ago. It= =20 lost 34 of 253 flights a day in July when Vanguard, a discount carrier=20 based there, folded. At the other end of the spectrum, Chicago Midway Airport is up almost 10%=20 in departures. It's served by fast-growing ATA and Southwest airlines, two= =20 discount carriers that are challenging Chicago's full-service airlines,=20 United and American, at O'Hare. Likewise, Oakland =97 up about 5% =97 is benefiting from new flights by=20 JetBlue. Southwest, American and United also have added flights in the past= =20 year. Airport officials attribute the new service to more businesses and=20 homes in San Francisco's East Bay area. And Salt Lake City, a Delta hub, is= =20 a good example of the industry's shift from large jets to small jets =97=20 another trend occurring at hubs around the country. While Delta's=20 departures are down 12% there, its regional-airline affiliate SkyWest has=20 added 19% more flights. In addition, United Express added four regional jet= =20 departures a day. Anticipating more regional jets, Salt Lake is considering building=20 concourses to accommodate them, says airport director Tim=20 Campbell.Cincinnati, another Delta hub, is ahead of 2001, too. But its=20 performance is skewed by a pilot strike last year, which kept flights down= =20 even after pilots returned to work. chart link http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2002/09-10-flights.htm The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Trini Tuner http://www.trinituner.com/ (TriniTuner.com) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************