Passenger traffic at Hancock fell in 2006

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jan 12, 2007 by Tampone, Kevin

SYRACUSE - Passenger traffic Rely fell at Syracuse Hancock International Airport in 2006, with numbers through November down 8.6 percent, according to the city of Syracuse, which oversees the airport.

The city has not yet released passenger numbers for the full year. Even if Hancock were to match its busiest December in the past 10 years, traffic for 2006 would still fall about 7 percent below the 2005 total of 2.4 million passengers.

Why fewer passengers used Hancock Airport last year is no mystery, says Anthony Mancuso, aviation commissioner.

"I think it's still a reflection of the loss of Independence and TransMeridian," he says, referring to the shutdowns of TransMeridian Airlines and Independence Air. "Whenever you lose a carrier, you're going to end up with [less traffic]."

TransMeridian folded in September 2005 and Independence collapsed in January 2006.

Mancuso notes that the passenger decline comes on the heels of two years of strong growth at Hancock. Passenger traffic in 2004 jumped 19 percent to its highest levels since 1992 and rose another 8.5 percent in 2005.

Last year's numbers could have been worse, says Kevin Schwab, an aviation consultant for the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York, Inc.

He notes that TransMeridian's Syracuse-Orlando route was the strongest in the airline's entire network, and the market was consistently in the top five for Independence.

"Both airlines moved a lot of passengers through Syracuse and within a handful of months of each other, they both went away," Schwab says. "The capacity for a significant period was down."

Independence filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2005 before folding a year ago. TransMeridian ended business in a Chapter 7 filing.

Both airlines were young when they arrived in Syracuse. Independence began flying in June 2004. TransMeridian operated as a charter carrier from 1995 until 2003 when it began offering scheduled service.

Much of the service lost with the end of those two carriers has been replaced, Schwab says. US Airways began offering new nonstop flights to Washington, D.C. in September. Washington was Independence's hub.

JetBlue Airways added nonstop flights to Orlando last year, replacing TransMeridian's service, Schwab says.

"In terms of actual seats, it's just about a wash," he says. "We have just about as many [now] as we lost."

There was, however, more bad news for Syracuse air travelers in November. AirTran Airways announced Nov. 28 that Phoenix would be its next destination instead of Syracuse.

The airline had been considering establishing service to Hancock and even conducted an online poll to help determine the airport with the most demand for new flights.

Phoenix beat out Syracuse and numerous other cities to win the new AirTran route. City and business leaders had tried aggressively to lure the low-cost carrier to Hancock.

"AirTran does have a station in Rochester," says Mancuso, the aviation commissioner. "I think it's maybe a little more difficult for them to start another one so close.

"They could do very well with service here. But at this time, airlines are very. cautious and conservative about opening any new station."

The company declined to release results of the online poll, but an AirTran spokeswoman says the vote - which Phoenix won - was not the only factor in deciding on the new service.

Phoenix helped AirTran fill holes in its coverage of the western United States and is one of the larger airtravel markets in the country, says Judy Graham-Weaver, the AirTran spokeswoman. She did not rule out possible future service to Syracuse.

"That's certainly not to say there won't be other cities coming from that list," she says.

The airline begins service to Phoenix Feb. 15. The company also began service to Newburgh, N.Y. on Jan. 11.