Less travel at Newark airport has ripple effect NEWARK, N.J. (AP) =97 The Best Western Newark Airport West is less than two= =20 years old, in a prime location across a highway from Newark Liberty=20 International Airport, one of the nation's busiest air hubs. In the last=20 few weeks, the hotel no longer comes close to filling all 75 rooms. "We're= =20 usually very busy during the week, but we've been very, very slow," said=20 Ennette Brea, front office manager. "Our guess is the whole war issue.=20 Nobody wants to travel." The war in Iraq has exacerbated a worldwide=20 decline in air travel that began after the 2001 terrorist attacks and=20 continued as the economy weakened. Fears about a new flu-like virus brought= =20 another round of canceled bookings and flights. The slowdown is of=20 particular note in northern New Jersey, which has lost thousands of air=20 transportation jobs since 9-11, as well as jobs and tax revenue from hotels= =20 and other industries catering to travelers. The Best Western put some workers on four-day weeks to avoid layoffs, and=20 cut its orders of newspapers and Danish pastry, which are offered free to=20 guests. The hotel's occupancy is running about 25-35 percent this month,=20 down from 70-90 percent a year ago, Brea said. Olympic Limousine, which has= =20 cars and shuttle buses taking travelers from Monmouth and Ocean counties to= =20 Newark Liberty, also reports less demand. "The war will impact the service,= =20 but probably less than 5 percent," said Roland Lopez, vice president of=20 operations for the Wall-based service. Even so, he said last month's=20 revenues were up 10 percent from the year before, when travel was way down= =20 from 9-11 fallout. The slowdown's effects have not been uniform. The Newark Airport Marriott,= =20 the only hotel within the airport's maze of roads, is doing "very well,"=20 according to general manager Walter Ensminger. "Our location has definitely= =20 helped us," he said. Diversification has helped Air Brook Limousine=20 mitigate the effects of war, fears of terrorism and a slumping economy,=20 said Steve Glasberg, assistant to the chairman. "The leisure business has=20 been less affected than business travel by the cutback in air travel,"=20 Glasberg said from the company's Rochelle Park base. "Many people are=20 canceling overseas trips in favor of local trips in the New York-New Jersey= =20 area." Air Brook now offers tours to such destinations as Mystic Seaport in=20 Connecticut and the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. "So=20 they enjoy themselves and, by the way, spend a lot less money" and Air=20 Brook keeps its 200 sedans, vans and buses on the road, Glasberg said. The= =20 Newark labor market accounts for nearly 90 percent of the state's 15,300=20 air transportation jobs. That is down nearly 19 percent from pre-9-11=20 levels. The airport has about 24,000 workers, but not all are considered=20 part of air transportation. Hotel employment also has dropped since the=20 terrorist attacks. The immediate future offers little encouragement. The dominant carrier at=20 Newark Liberty, Continental Airlines, is offering one daily flight to Paris= =20 and London instead of two until May 1. That was announced March 18, when=20 the war brought cancellations and falling reservations. The airline also=20 will fly smaller aircraft to Amsterdam and Rome. Continental has also=20 scrapped the four flights it had to Hong Kong each week, until at least=20 June 1. "We think the bookings were down because of SARS," said spokesman=20 Rahsaan Johnson, referring to the new respiratory virus that began in Asia. This summer, Houston-based Continental plans to reduce capacity systemwide= =20 by 2 percent, but will continue serving all current destinations, Johnson=20 said. The airline, the No. 5 U.S. carrier, also plans additional layoffs in= =20 addition to the 1,200 job cuts announced last month. Donald Scarry,=20 principal economist at New Jersey Economics in Mount Laurel, said the war=20 may ultimately bring more travelers to the airport. "When the war stops and= =20 we hit the reconstruction phase, Newark will be a particular beneficiary"=20 because that will involve many businesses based in the Northeast that will= =20 be flying overseas, Scarry said. A comparison of the number of flights and passengers at Newark Liberty=20 International Passengers 2003 2002 January 2,073,698 2,038,747 February 1,926,024 1,920,925 March n/a * 2,,559,520 Flights 2003 2002 January 32,919 33,025 February 28,837 30,775 March n/a * 34,172 Source: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. * =3D Not available. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************