By Molly Parker
Staff Writer

Charleston International Airport officials are elated about the airport traffic that has taken off since AirTran Airways began servicing the market in late May. 

But record passenger flights into and out of the North Charleston airport, while driving down ticket prices, are also squeezing the infrastructure and lengthening lines for departing passengers. 

Passenger enplanements this year are on pace to break the last record year of 2005, when there were more than 1.07 million outbound fliers. Through September of that year, there had been 817,473 outbound passengers, compared to 839,653 through September of this year.

“You can attribute those numbers to one thing only and that’s the arrival of AirTran and ticket prices going down. It is pricing pure and simple,” said David Jennings, chairman of the Charleston County Aviation Authority.

AirTran moved into the Charleston market on May 24, offering two daily nonstop flights between here and the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. On June 7, the company added two more.

The arrival of the low-budget airline carrier seemed to increase traffic on the other seven airlines serving the airport as well.

Delta is still by far the largest provider for the North Charleston airport. The company saw an 11% increase in the number of customers leaving from the area in the first three full months since AirTran moved here.

In June, July and August 2006, according to airport records, Delta served 75,604 passengers leaving Charleston, compared to the same three-month period this year, when the airline had 84,002 customers aboard outbound planes.

Before AirTran began serving Charleston, the market had been without a low-cost carrier since Independence Air folded in early 2006.

During that time, some passenger traffic was lost to nearby Myrtle Beach International Airport and Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, Jennings said. But the sheer numbers of new passengers taking off and landing at the North Charleston airport suggest most of those passengers are back, and that lower costs are enticing other customers who had been either driving or delaying trips.

Air traffic in September, the most recent data available as of press time, was up 40% with 98,036 passengers taking off this month compared to 69,711 last year. 

Still, a recently released U.S. Bureau of Transportation study showed Charleston fliers paid some of the highest fares nationally during the popular travel months of April, May and June.

Of the nation’s 100 largest airports, Charleston is the fifth most expensive to fly from, the report said. The average ticket price during the second quarter of the year was $438.17 compared to the national average of $326.22, a difference of almost 33%.

Jennings called the latest study “interesting but irrelevant,” noting the figures do not account for AirTran Airways’ foothold in the market. The company didn’t start serving Charleston passengers until two-thirds through second-quarter 2007.

One bright spot in the transportation bureau report, however, was that Charleston received another fifth-place ranking in terms of declining airline ticket costs. The average price for a ticket in the second quarter this year was $438.17, compared to $509.06 in the second quarter of 2006, a 13.9% decline, the report showed.

Jennings expects the third-quarter federal report to show an even larger drop in prices. 

Still, the increased foot traffic through the airport does have its drawbacks, longer lines being one of them. A traveler who arrives at the airport an hour before departure may still be able to make it from check-in to the gate on time, but Jennings said it would be wise to allow at least an hour and a half, particularly on holidays and weekends. Some of the delay can be attributed to post-Sept. 11 security checks, but the recent lines are also being driven by increased traffic load, he said.

The rapidly growing passenger airline industry here also appears to have spawned an increase in flight delays and cancellations. A separate transportation bureau study shows that flights coming into and leaving the airport are increasingly delayed, though some of the hiccups could be weather-related or tied to operations at another airport.

In 2000, almost 85% of flights were on time, compared to fewer than 75% so far this year. Through August, a total 2,158 flights were delayed for various reasons, the report shows. That accounts for about 21% of all outbound flights, compared to 2000 when 507 flights were delayed during the same period, or 11.13% of enplanements.

A number of rehabs to the airport are in the works, Jennings said, aimed at eliminating passenger headaches. 

For starters, the aviation authority in August greenlighted construction improvements to International Boulevard and Michaux Parkway, both heavily traveled roads for accessing the airport. The Federal Aviation Administration is funding about 95% of the $3 million to $4 million road project, Jennings said. 

By next spring, passengers will have only two lines to stand in as opposed to three before arriving at their gates. The airport plans to move the Transportation Security Administration luggage screening line downstairs. Retrofitting the basement will cost about $500,000, he

said.

“It’s time-consuming, it’s unsightly, and it’s not terribly efficient,” Jennings said of the screening process for checking luggage. “It’s not a great way to have that portion of the business done.”

The long-term goal for the airport, Jennings said, is a total overhaul of the terminal, though the price tag will be hefty. The authority has hired a consultant to make recommendations for refurbishing the 21-year-old building.

“It’s time to look at the building to see how we can bring it into the 21^st century and make it an even better facility for the traveling public,” he said.

One of those improvements could be the installation of explosive detection systems that would render unnecessary TSA’s use of hand wands in securing checked baggage. The price tag for that system alone could be upwards of $6 million, Jennings said.

Molly Parker is a reporter at the Business Journal. E-mail her directly at mparker@setcommedia.com.

SUBSCRIBE | REPRINTS | CONTACT US

Phone: 843-849-3100    Fax: 843-849-3122