This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ Explore more of Starbucks at Starbucks.com. http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp?ci=1015 \----------------------------------------------------------/ Small Town U.S.A. Losing Air Service September 16, 2003 By DAVID KOEPPEL Planning a business trip if you live in Ottumwa, Iowa, is not easy. The town of 25,000 people lost its only commercial air service two years ago when the regional carrier United Express ended its two daily flights to Chicago. Ottumwa has failed to lure another airline to fill the gap, so travelers have to drive two hours to the Des Moines airport or four hours to the one in Kansas City, Mo., to catch a flight. Kendig Kneen, president of Al-jon, a local heavy-equipment manufacturer, says he and his sales staff generally make the longer trek to Kansas City because the fares are cheaper. United Express's pullout has put additional burdens on his budget and his employees as well, he says. He sometimes pays to fly customers in by charter plane, for example, and he has moved several of his sales and marketing staff of 16 out of Ottumwa and closer to their respective territories, in part to save on travel costs. "The air service in Ottumwa wasn't always dependable, but losing it struck a crushing blow," said Mr. Kneen, 48, who has lived in the area for 43 years. "When a customer would ask how to get to Ottumwa, it was very advantageous to say, 'United flies right in here.' " A lot of employers and business travelers in a lot of small towns like Ottumwa are experiencing the same frustrations as Mr. Kneen these days. Airlines are cutting back or even abandoning service to small airports across the country, forcing executives who live there to spend more time on the road and putting a drag on the local economies. Twenty-two airports that used to average at least one departure a day have lost all commercial air service since August 2001, and 101 have experienced service declines of more than 30 percent, according to an analysis by Back Aviation Solutions, an industry consultant group in New Haven. The reasons are not surprising. Since the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, many cash-strapped airlines have been eliminating unprofitable runs to smaller cities. Local residents have fueled the trend by driving to larger urban airports for cheaper flights. And as activity at smaller airports has dwindled, so has federal financial assistance. The Department of Transportation's Essential Air Service Program, which provides subsidies to small communities, for example, pulled the plug on Ottumwa's airport in September 2001 because the per-passenger costs exceeded the ceiling of $200. (The program, with an annual budget of $113 million, requires a community to be more than 70 miles away from a medium or large hub airport to receive a subsidy.) Richard Fraley has witnessed the trend first hand. Mr. Fraley recalls how reliable the service was at the Four Corners Regional Airport in Farmington, N.M., a city of 38,000, in the early 1990's, when he was an engineering manager there for Burlington Resources. He left in 1996 for a position at the company's Houston office, and when he returned in 2001 as a Burlington division vice president, he says, the service had deteriorated sharply. Since then, things have only gotten worse. The number of daily flights has fallen by half, to 10 from 20. According to airport manager Richard Stein, the number of passengers passing through the airport has slid to 38,000 last year from 95,000 in 1995. Mr. Stein said many business travelers who once frequented Four Corners now drove the 180 miles to Albuquerque's airport. Farmington's mayor, Bill Standley, said, "Cutting back in air service to a small or rural community is like saying you can't have fiber optics, it's starving the community." "People are taking to the roads and driving long distances," Mr Standley said. "I'm afraid of seeing an increase in accidents." Mr. Fraley said his frustration only increased after three recent business connections originating in Farmington went awry. Each time, his Mesa Airlines flight to Houston via Albuquerque was delayed, and so he rerouted the trip through Denver or Phoenix on other carriers. All the service cutbacks and delays have turned what once would have been a commute of a few hours into a full day's ordeal, he says, and he is thinking about switching from commercial flying to driving on the state's new four-lane highway or even chartering a plane. Like many other business executives, he also turns to Webcasts and videoconferencing whenever possible. "We don't make travel arrangements at just the drop of a hat anymore," he said. Craig Walling, a recently retired power plant manager from Farmington, tells a similar tale. A frequent flier on America West Express to Phoenix, he said that after the Sept. 11 attacks, the airline began cutting flights and raising prices. He started to reduce his flying time when the airline moved its 6 a.m. flight to midmorning. "It messed up my whole day," Mr. Walling recalled. "Lots of times the planes wouldn't even fly. They said it was mechanical problems, but we suspected there just weren't enough passengers." Mr. Stein, the airport manager, said he was unaware of any flights that were canceled because of a lack of passengers. Elsewhere the refrain is much the same. In 2001, Mesa Airlines raised the fares on nonstop flights from the Hickory Regional airport in Hickory, N.C., to Charlotte, N.C., while reducing their number to four from nine. Then, in April 2002, it ended the service altogether - a decision that the airport's development director, Duncan Cavanaugh, described as "almost a self-fulfilling prophecy." Mesa's departure not only complicated travel for employees and clients of several large fiber optic companies in Hickory, like Corning Cable Systems and Commscope, it also hurt resorts in the area that relied on the conference and convention trade, said Kent Tarbutton, the resort director of Chetola Mountain Resort in Blowing Rock, N.C., about 36 miles from the Hickory airport. "We can't compete anymore for that business," Mr. Tarbutton said. "It's hard to court a Ford or Chrysler without air service." Even airports that hang on to commercial service often have to adjust to the ebb and flow of competition - and thus of ticket prices. After Continental Airlines began daily flights from the San Angelo Regional Airport-Mathis Field in San Angelo, Tex., to Houston in April 2000, ending American Eagle's monopoly there, fares fell. But Continental pulled out after the Sept. 11 attacks, leaving American Eagle again as the sole player; fares then rose, said Michael Dalby, the president of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce. The price increases induced many travelers in San Angelo, a city of 100,000 people with thriving health care and sheep-and-goat ranching industries, to switch from flying to driving two hours to Midland or Odessa, three hours to San Antonio or Austin, and even seven hours to Houston. However, Sky West Airlines yesterday began nonstop flights to Houston. American Eagle's round-trip fare to Dallas has fallen from $500 to below $300 since the Sky West announcement on Aug. 7. Dan Stultz, the chief executive of Shannon Health Systems, a San Angelo medical center with 1,400 employees, is pleased that the city is getting a second airline. But he has come to accept the frequent comings and goings of commercial carriers. "It's just part of doing business," Mr. Stultz said. "I'm just glad that we've had one viable airline. I'm not bitter. I'm grateful we have flights to Dallas." Readers are invited to send stories about business travel experiences to businesstravel@xxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/16/business/16smal.html?ex=1064717754&ei=1&en=037151e7631afccd --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! 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