Low-fare carriers help two Virginia airports hit record highs NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) =97 The two large airports serving Hampton Roads= broke=20 their passenger records in 2002, when most other airports lost passengers=20 after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Both Norfolk International=20 Airport and Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport benefited from= =20 newly added airline service, especially by discount carriers. Traffic at=20 Newport News/ Williamsburg International Airport leaped 40% last year, to=20 592,092 passengers, largely because of new service on AirTran Airways and= =20 Delta Connection. That shattered the airport's previous high of 457,509,=20 set in 2000, by 29%. "Newport News/Williamsburg continues to be one of the= =20 fastest-growing airports in the nation," said Aubrey Fitzgerald, chairman=20 of the Peninsula Airport Commission. Lisa C. White, the airport's marketing= =20 manager, also attributed the airport's success to efforts to raise=20 awareness about the airport in such places as Richmond and South Hampton= Roads. The Norfolk airport, which enjoyed its first full year of service from=20 Southwest Airlines, had 3.46 million passengers walk through its gates, or= =20 17% more than in 2001. The number of passengers in 2002 was 1.4% better=20 than the Norfolk airport's old record of 3.42 million passengers, set in=20 1994. "It's very encouraging to see this type of increase in such hard=20 economic times," said Wayne Shank, the Norfolk airport's deputy executive=20 director. He said it helped that the region's economy generally fared=20 better than the nation's. Southwest flies seven flights a day to Baltimore,= =20 as well as flights to Orlando and Jacksonville, Fla., and Las Vegas. With=20 only three months of service in 2001, Southwest accounted for 4.1% of the=20 airport's service. Since then, it's grown to the airport's third-largest=20 airline, handling 18% of traffic. The strong showing by both airports=20 occurred as the Air Transport Association has concluded that travelers=20 nationally still aren't flying as frequently as they were before the=20 terrorist attacks. Airline traffic in 2002 was off 5.2% from 2001. Compared= =20 with 2000, the country's busiest air travel year ever, the numbers are down= =20 8.2%. "The continued weakness in demand for air travel remains evident,"=20 said ATA chief economist David Swierenga. But not in Hampton Roads. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************