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“Manhattan’s (Kansas) airport may be well-positioned to attract a commercial air carrier with larger jets, but barriers still exist to providing additional flights, according to an air service and financial analysis consultant hired by the city.
At a Tuesday work session of the City Commission, also attended by members of the Airport Advisory Board, Mead & Hunt presented findings from its air service development project. The study aims to improve commercial service at Manhattan Regional Airport (MKH) by attracting a non-subsidized air carrier that can “fund itself through users,” said Peter Van Kuren, airport director.
Currently, the airport’s only air carrier, Air Midwest, is subsidized by the Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service (EAS) program. The annual subsidy for Manhattan/Salina — all flights to Kansas City International Airport originate out of Salina — is $974,000. Air Midwest has three roundrip flights daily to Kansas City, using a 19–seat Beach 1900 aircraft.
A key question for airlines taking a look at Manhattan is — are people committed to using the local airport?
It doesn’t appear they are, at least for now.
Ron McNeill of Mead & Hunt, said air passenger leakage to Kansas City’s airport is “high.” A passenger survey revealed that only about 8 percent of Manhattanites fly out of the city’s airport. Most, 90 percent, drive to Kansas City to catch flights. The same is true for Junction City residents surveyed — 94 percent flew out of Kansas City versus Manhattan, and 72 percent for Ft. Riley. Overall, 91 percent of travelers preferred driving to Kansas City in order to save money on airfare. Non–business travelers are more prone to make the drive to save money, McNeil said.
Proximity to Kansas City is a real issue for you. Support of the local airport is going to be critical.”
McNeill believes 50 percent leakage is achievable.
All travelers surveyed wanted to pay less than $100 to fly from Manhattan to Kansas City, and back. The current rountrip fare is about $150.
McNeill said flights out of Manhattan are typically 70 percent full and have been for the past nine quarters, which would be viewed positively by airlines.
“Airlines like to see numbers,” said McNeill.
He said several major hubs St. Louis, Denver, Memphis and Dallas — are within 500 miles of Manhattan. Whether this large potential marketplace can attract an airline remains to be seen.
McNeill added that community support can play an important role in attracting a commercial air carrier, to “jumpstart a market right away.” These include revenue guarantees; airline travel banks, where local businesses assess their travel needs, deposit travel dollars in banks and then issue credit cards to their employees for travel purposes; marketing funds and fee wavers.
At the same time, McNeill said, “airlines really don’t want to come in and take the community’s money, they want the (air) service to work…” He said some communities have invested a couple of million dollars, “and the airline still didn’t want to come in.”
The game plan is to attract regional jets with two daily departures. That would cost an airline about $5 million, McNeill said. With Manhattan’s 70 percent load factor and an average fare of $100, that could generate about $5.1 million, $6.4 million with a $125 airfare.
McNeill said projected growth at Ft. Riley and the presence of KSU would be advantages for Manhattan when dealing with the airlines. The university would be “a real plus. Universities provide a significant amount of travel,” year-round, McNeill said.
City manager Ron Fehr was concerned that Mead & Hunt’s estimates for population growth in the Manhattan area through 2010 were “low” and did not incorporate projected Ft. Riley growth. McNeill said his company did not use the city’s population estimates for the market analysis, and that it would be important to communicate to airlines the anticiapted swell in military personnel.
Commissioner Ed Klimek wanted to know what the city was doing “to get military traffic to use our airport,” versus busing soldiers in from Kansas City. Van Kuren said he thought the military wants to use Manhattan’s air service, but “the demand is greater than the supply. There are only so many seats available through the EAS program,” and Air Midwest isn’t obligated to add flights to accommodate additional soldiers.
The city and Mead & Hunt plan to start courting the airlines in June.
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