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Airport looking for Austin service
By KYLE PEVETO
June 4, 2009
Posted: June 4, 2009, 6:20 PM CDT

Direct flights to Austin could be in the wings for Southeast Texas travelers.
Five small airports around the Lone Star State are hoping connect to the capital city through a small commuter airline, according to Hal Ross, manager of the Southeast Texas Regional Airport. Their hopes hinge on a study that will probe the idea's profitability.
"It's different," Ross said by phone Thursday, comparing the proposed service to other start-up airlines that failed in the area. "It's very different."
Airline service to Southeast Texas has been turbulent over the past decade.
In 1998, Beaumont-Port Arthur passengers could board a plane bound for Dallas, Austin, Houston or New Orleans. But since 2002, after American Airlines' regional service pulled out, Continental Connection has been the lone carrier at the airport, with Houston as its sole destination.
In 2000, Southeast Texas Regional Airport still had 89,809 passengers boarding here per year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. By last year, that number sank to 21,648, according to Ross.
To turn that around, Jefferson County commissioners last week approved the use of up to $2,000 to pay for the county-owned airport's share of a study by Barry Clark and Associates Inc. to determine the proposed airline's potential.
Several start-ups have failed in the airport's history, Ross said, including Conquest Airlines and Austin Express. Both of those small commuter airlines offered service to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
"It was during a time when the legacies (large airlines) running out of the hubs were doing a pretty good job of serving the smaller airports," he said. "What's triggered this thing with Austin-Bergstrom is that passenger service to non-hub cities has shown tremendous decline."
Airline industry analysts say for a small regional airport to succeed with multiple carriers, the business model must be unique.
"It can work. Lots of times it is connected to economic development," John Infanger, editor of Airport Business magazine, said by phone Wednesday.
Infanger points to the Akron, Ohio airport that serves as budget airline AirTran's second hub. Instead of competing with nearby Cleveland, the Akron airport began serving a different clientele.
Ross said the proposed intra-state connection service proposed here stands out. The service would use nine-passenger Cessna 402 turbo-prop planes and would not need the passenger volume required to profitably operate small jets on the route.
Cape Air, a Hyannis, Mass. airline that serves four areas of the U.S. with the Cessna, has spoken with Texas airlines about such a service, said Michelle Haynes, spokeswoman for the company. Planning is extremely preliminary, she said.
According to Cape Air's Web site, its commuter flights in New England start at about $72 for round-trip tickets for a comparable distance.
"That is our niche, to provide access to underserved areas," she said by phone Thursday.
However, the Beaumont-Port Arthur airport always has been a tough market, said Mike Boyd, president of The Boyd Group, a Colorado-based airline industry consultant service.
"This has nothing to do with the viability of the community you're in," he said by phone from Colorado Wednesday. "The cost of hurling an airplane is tough."
In the past 30 years, several airlines have tried the Beaumont-Port Arthur market, Boyd said. The area's petrochemical business entices small carriers, he said, but not enough traffic originates from the airport.
"Beaumont is not an inconsequential metro area," Boyd said. "A lot of airlines have tried Beaumont, because it looks great on paper."
Service from Beaumont to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport would be a "complete waste of time," Boyd said, because too little traffic originates from Beaumont-Port Arthur.
The Southeast Texas Regional Airport can only support direct flights to locations airlines use as their hubs, such as Houston's Bush Intercontinental, where Continental Airlines serves domestic and international travelers.
Dallas-Fort Worth International, which American Airlines uses as a hub, would be Beaumont-Port Arthur's only hope for a successful second service, Boyd said.
That would entail getting back American Airlines' connection service, American Eagle, which pulled out of Beaumont-Port Arthur in 2002.
"You've got to keep banging on the door at American," he said.