Early vacations lift airport traffic

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By Jennifer DeWitt | Thursday, June 7, 2007 12:16 AM CDT | () comments

Early summer vacationers and competitive air fares helped lift the Quad-City International Airport to a new passenger record in May — continuing a streak of new records that has lasted all year.

The airport enplaned, or boarded, 42,062 passengers last month, which was up 2,702 passengers, or 7 percent, from last year’s record. Total passengers, which includes enplanements and deplanements, also increased 7 percent to 84,313 in May from 79,061 a year ago.

Bruce Carter, the airport’s aviation director, said Wednesday that the airport had not been expecting a record May but was surprised by the number of families getting an early start on summer vacation. With year-round schools and balanced calendars, the timing of vacations may be shifting from the traditional summer months, he said.

Low air fares and high prices at the pump also may be contributing to the record, he added.

The rising costs at the gas pump also appear to be helping drive passenger numbers. “If you’re paying $2.40 a gallon (for gasoline) and you can get fares under $200, it’s a no-brainer. Why would you go through all that fighting of the kids in the car?” Carter said.

He added that the airport also has more seats in its schedule than a year ago. American Airlines has a second flight to Dallas/Fort Worth and United Express added a third flight to Denver.

AirTran Airways’ resumption of service to Las Vegas is proving popular even before its Aug. 16 start, Carter said. “They’ve already booked 50 seats for the first day’s flight. It’s half booked and we’re still 70 days out.” The direct service will be provided on a 137-seat Boeing 737.

Among the airport’s airlines, American Eagle showed the most growth in May, enplaning 6,727 passengers in May, up 29 percent from 5,222 the year before. United Express saw a 12 percent increase in May, enplaning 12,587 passengers —– up from 11,285 the year before. Delta Connection had a 5 percent increase from 4,573 passengers, up from 4,360 last year.

AirTran and Northwest Airlink posted slight decreases in passengers. AirTran enplaned 7,831 passengers last month, which compared to 8,158 last year. Northwest was nearly flat with 10,228 passengers last month, which compared to 10,312 last year.

Year-to-date through May, the airport has seen a 6 percent increase in passengers.

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.