By Molly Parker
Staff Writer

Flights out of the Charleston International Airport have increased significantly since the late May addition of AirTran Airways, elating airport officials who worked for several years to lure the discount airline company, and riling competition among legacy carriers such as Delta.

“With AirTran here, prices have gone down again and the number of passengers has risen dramatically, so it is wonderful for everyone,” Charleston County Aviation Authority chairman David Jennings said Monday.

The airport authority recently posted enplanement figures through June, showing 111,100 outbound fliers last month, an increase of 10,788 passengers compared with May, and a 15,399 jump compared with April.

With figures expected to hold steady or grow, that means roughly 500 more people a day are either flying in or out of the airport.

Part of the increased travel volume is due to the traditional peak during the summer months, but AirTran’s impact on the numbers is undeniable when compared with air traffic this time last year, said Bill New, the airport’s deputy director.

AirTran Airways, headquartered in Orlando, Fla., became an option for Charleston-area fliers on May 24, offering two round-trip nonstop flights between the airport here and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

On June 7, the company added two additional flights. Two planes depart daily in the mornings, at 6:05 a.m. and 10:50 a.m., and two in the evening, at 4:05 p.m. and 7:20 p.m.

“We have been very pleased and encouraged with the warm reception we have received in the Charleston area since we started service there in May,” AirTran Airways spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver, wrote in an e-mail. 

In June 2006, there were 23,113 fewer passengers flying out of the Charleston airport than in June of this year.

In 2005, which Jennings described as a “record year,” there were 12,224 fewer passengers during the same month. Low-cost carrier Independence Air helped drive traffic that year, but the company went out of business in early 2006 after declaring bankruptcy, leaving the region without a discount carrier for over a year, Jennings said.

The addition of AirTran doesn’t seem to have stifled the other carriers either, almost all of which experienced passenger increases during the past several months. Delta remains Charleston’s per-passenger flight leader, with 28,941 outbound fliers in June, up 5,220 from its 23,721 passenger load in May. Recently, Delta upgraded one of its smaller planes, and now has two full-size Boeing 757s departing daily, New said.

AirTran had 11,329 passengers in June, its first full month of operation at the airport. There were 1,503 passengers on the company’s planes the last seven days of May.

“It appears that business is good for everybody and that’s good for the community and the carriers,” New said. “Charleston is a good destination that people want to visit and by having a low-cost carrier, it affords the option to that many more people.”

It’s too early to tell, he said, if the airline addition will have a major impact on drawing customers away from surrounding airports.

“I think probably as we get into this a little further with AirTran… we may see those trends,” New said.

A three-month snapshot of enplanement from the Myrtle Beach International Airport showed a modest increase, from roughly 80,800 passengers in April to 84,050 in June. Enplanements were down during the same period at the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, with 96,185 passengers aboard outbound planes in April, compared with 93,510 in June.

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