Couldn’t Help But Notice (043007)
As Delta emerges from bankruptcy, a useful reminder:
Dayton International Airport’s average domestic air fare of $337.73 in the fourth quarter of 2006 was among the 25 lowest of the nation’s 100 top airports, the government reported on Wednesday.
The Dayton figure ranked No. 76 …..
Port Columbus International Airport (average domestic fare $332.79, ranking No. 81) and Indianapolis International Airport ($329.30, No. 84) had slightly lower average fares than Dayton.
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport had the country’s second-most expensive domestic average fare at $503.38, behind only Anchorage International Airport in Alaska at $537.
So the hub Delta dominates in Greater Cincinnati is the most expensive in the lower 48; in fact, the company is THE reason things are that way. Inexpensive Dayton, Columbus, and Indy are all less than 2 hours away and require less time to get from your car to your seat on the plane. If you live in Cincy’s northern suburbs, getting on a flight leaving from Dayton actually involves less time door-to-door, and less uncertainty about traffic conditions, than crossing the river into Kentucky to fly out of “Cincinnati’s” airport.
If Delta doesn’t do anything about its horrid fares out of Cincinnati, people who can will continue to avoid that airport. Delta’s post-bankruptcy survival prospects, even with a leaner cost structure, will be in jeopardy.
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Porkopolis makes a great point as he busts George Tenet for not following the CIA’s core principle of non-involvement in policymaking.
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John McWhorter (HT Instapundit) “surmises” something that Kevin McCullough and yours truly made predictions about several months ago.
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Michael Ware (covered previously here and here) is looking more like a guy who believes the world’s problems can all be solved — if only it would appoint him dictator. Now he’s ripping Democrats for their cut-and-run votes.
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Be careful what you search for.
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I figured this had to be a late April Fool’s joke. Nope — This guy really does want to take everyone’s guns. Though obviously cranky, he’s not an irrelevant crank. He’s a retired diplomat, and a member of the editorial boards of The Toledo Blade and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
So much for the criticism that the NRA and pro-Second Amendment groups are unreasonably paranoid.
Tom,
The fares out of Cincinnati are more expensive because Cincinnati is one of Delta’s major hubs. Many of the transcontinental and international flights are sourced out of Cincy. Most of the traffic in Cincinnati is from layovers. So the seat prices are high, because demand is high.
Comment by Kevin — April 30, 2007 @ 2:54 pm
I guess this is the top 100 airports by passenger volume, right? I wonder how the fares at Standiford (Louisville) and Bluegrass (Lexington) compare with Cox, Indianapolis, and Columbus.
Comment by Jason Sonenshein — April 30, 2007 @ 8:18 pm
#1, yes and no. There may be fewer seats available because Cincy is a predominantly pass-through airport for Delta.
BUT, it’s the lack of a meaningful competitor that keeps fares for those seats that are available high. If NWA did more than just go to Minneapolis or US Airways do more than just go to Pittsburgh, Delta’s fares wouldn’t be so high.
When you drive to Dayton to get on a Delta flight that lands in Cincy for your connection, and you’re saving sometimes $500 or more in comparison to boarding in Cincy, something is screwed up. Delta is probably losing money on the hundreds of thousands of people doing that, yet they won’t take Cincy fares down to avoid those losses.
#2, I looked for the raw data and couldn’t get to it quickly. I would guess that Louisville isn’t much more expensive than the other three nearby cities. Don’t know about Lex, which I don’t think is in the top 100.
Comment by TBlumer — April 30, 2007 @ 10:11 pm
Tom,
The cost difference doesn’t even include the fact that, for those of us in the suburbs, Dayton is much more convenient. I’ve had to drop off and pick up the wife at the Northern Kentucky Airport (if it was the Cincinnati Airport it would be in Ohio) many times and you have to allow a lot more time for traffic. The one thing I’ll give the NKA is their parking is better than in Dayton. The Dayton airport parking lot is worse than some war zones.
As far as the gun confiscating goof, we are all just too concerned. Once we all surrender the government will take care of us. Oops, was that too sarcastic?
Comment by largebill — April 30, 2007 @ 11:43 pm
Have you flown lately? There’s no reason to bring the fares down. The planes are full.
Comment by Kevin — May 1, 2007 @ 7:45 am
#5, that explains why fares are higher, not why there’s a 50% diff between cincy and its 3 surrounding airports.
Comment by TBlumer — May 1, 2007 @ 8:35 am