AUS sets new passenger record

[Trae]

I wish Austin and San Antonio had built a joint airport. They could have had close to 20 million passengers, more airlines, more international flights, and more non-stop flights. How bad could it have been to drive 30 miles to the airport? People in Houston and Dallas already do it.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by TraeSlab713

I wish Austin and San Antonio had built a joint airport. They could have had close to 20 million passengers, more airlines, more international flights, and more non-stop flights. How bad could it have been to drive 30 miles to the airport? People in Houston and Dallas already do it.

It would be bad.

One reason is that a lot of the passenger traffic from both SAT and AUS is short-haul, namely to Dallas Fort Worth and Houston.

Dallas Fort Worth is the # 1 destination for both SAT and AUS and in SAT, Houston is the number 3 destination, while in Austin Houston ranks #7

Try comparing the O&D statistics for these 4 city pairs from Q2 2001 (the last full quarter before 9/11 and increased security wait times) to what they were in Q2 2006.

SAT - DAL/DFW

(Trip length-about 250 miles)

2258 daily passengers then
2155 daily passengers now
A decrease of 4.5%

SAT - HOU/IAH

(Trip length-about 190 miles)

949 daily passengers then
735 daily passengers now
A decrease of 22.5%

AUS - DAL/DFW

(Trip length-about 190 miles)

2038 daily passengers then
1653 daily passengers now
A decrease of 18.9%%

AUS - HOU/IAH

(Trip length-about 150 miles)

979 daily passengers then
595 daily passengers now
A decrease of 39.2%

Notice that the shorter the trip length, the bigger the derease was after 9/11. Why? Because due to increased security wait times post-9/11 it became more attractive to a lot of folks to just drive.

Imagine if you'd had to make a 35-mile drive just to get to the airport, and then were also faced with longer security wait times. The traffic would have fallen off even more.

Here's another reason a joint airport would have been a bad idea.

If you read that July, 2005 article I referred to above (Linked here) note that it says:

The top three factors meeting planners consider when booking convention centers are hotel rates, availability of nonstop and same-plane flights, and the proximity of the airport to the convention center.

San Antonio scores relatively well on hotel rates, and the Convention Center is only 10 miles from the airport. The biggest challenge, therefore, is adding more direct flights.

If Austin and San Antonio had built a joint airport midway between the two cities it would have been about 35 miles from either cities' downtown areas.

If you want to get people to visit your city, you want to make it easy for them to get there. You don't want to subject them to a 35-mile drive down scenic I35 in a shuttle bus afer arriving at the airport.

And BTW, not everone in Dallas or Houston drives 30 miles to get to the airport. DAL is 7 miles northwest of Downtown Dallas and HOU is 7 miles southeast of Downtown Houston.

I don't think the Austin-San Antonio area is big enough to support smaller airports in both cities and a joint-airport between the two.

It might seem like a good idea on paper and I'm sure the folks in the San Marcos - New Braunfels area would have loved it, but I don't think it would have been in the best interests of either San Antonio or Austin.

[M1EK]

Originally Posted by TraeSlab713

I wish Austin and San Antonio had built a joint airport. They could have had close to 20 million passengers, more airlines, more international flights, and more non-stop flights. How bad could it have been to drive 30 miles to the airport? People in Houston and Dallas already do it.

An airport midway might be 30 miles from downtown Austin but that's a long ways from saying "the typical person only needs to drive 30 miles". Austin's metro area isn't centered around downtown; there's more north than south; so you're asking the people in Northwest Austin to drive more like 60 minutes (90-120 in traffic) to get there. Not a real winner.

The folks up there think Bergstrom is already pretty far away, BTW.

[Mopacs]

Originally Posted by M1EK

An airport midway might be 30 miles from downtown Austin but that's a long ways from saying "the typical person only needs to drive 30 miles". Austin's metro area isn't centered around downtown; there's more north than south; so you're asking the people in Northwest Austin to drive more like 60 minutes (90-120 in traffic) to get there. Not a real winner.

The folks up there think Bergstrom is already pretty far away, BTW.

I concur with that.... Bergstrom is nearly 30 miles from my home in Williamson County. A 50+ mile commute to a San Marcos-area airport would be a bitch

On a similar note, the new Killeen-Fort Hood regional airport may become more of a viable option for Williamson County residents as time goes on (it is closer to Georgetown than is ABIA). There are a number flights originating to and from Dallas and Houston (regional commuter jets), and I understand there are now direct flight(s) to Atlanta, via Delta's regional carrier.

[Mikey711MN]

Originally Posted by Mopacs

On a similar note, the new Killeen-Fort Hood regional airport may become more of a viable option for Williamson County residents as time goes on (it is closer to Georgetown than is ABIA). There are a number flights originating to and from Dallas and Houston (regional commuter jets), and I understand there are now direct flight(s) to Atlanta, via Delta's regional carrier.

Allegiant Air also provides nonstop service to Las Vegas. (W and Sa only)

[trvlr70]

Originally Posted by TraeSlab713

I wish Austin and San Antonio had built a joint airport. They could have had close to 20 million passengers, more airlines, more international flights, and more non-stop flights. How bad could it have been to drive 30 miles to the airport? People in Houston and Dallas already do it.

Hell on...the airport is currently too far from town as it is!

[Trae]

Originally Posted by LoneStarMike

It would be bad.

One reason is that a lot of the passenger traffic from both SAT and AUS is short-haul, namely to Dallas Fort Worth and Houston.

Dallas Fort Worth is the # 1 destination for both SAT and AUS and in SAT, Houston is the number 3 destination, while in Austin Houston ranks #7

Try comparing the O&D statistics for these 4 city pairs from Q2 2001 (the last full quarter before 9/11 and increased security wait times) to what they were in Q2 2006.

SAT - DAL/DFW

(Trip length-about 250 miles)

2258 daily passengers then
2155 daily passengers now
A decrease of 4.5%

SAT - HOU/IAH

(Trip length-about 190 miles)

949 daily passengers then
735 daily passengers now
A decrease of 22.5%

AUS - DAL/DFW

(Trip length-about 190 miles)

2038 daily passengers then
1653 daily passengers now
A decrease of 18.9%%

AUS - HOU/IAH

(Trip length-about 150 miles)

979 daily passengers then
595 daily passengers now
A decrease of 39.2%

Notice that the shorter the trip length, the bigger the derease was after 9/11. Why? Because due to increased security wait times post-9/11 it became more attractive to a lot of folks to just drive.

Imagine if you'd had to make a 35-mile drive just to get to the airport, and then were also faced with longer security wait times. The traffic would have fallen off even more.

Here's another reason a joint airport would have been a bad idea.

If you read that July, 2005 article I referred to above (Linked here) note that it says:

The top three factors meeting planners consider when booking convention centers are hotel rates, availability of nonstop and same-plane flights, and the proximity of the airport to the convention center.

San Antonio scores relatively well on hotel rates, and the Convention Center is only 10 miles from the airport. The biggest challenge, therefore, is adding more direct flights.

If Austin and San Antonio had built a joint airport midway between the two cities it would have been about 35 miles from either cities' downtown areas.

If you want to get people to visit your city, you want to make it easy for them to get there. You don't want to subject them to a 35-mile drive down scenic I35 in a shuttle bus afer arriving at the airport.

And BTW, not everone in Dallas or Houston drives 30 miles to get to the airport. DAL is 7 miles northwest of Downtown Dallas and HOU is 7 miles southeast of Downtown Houston.

I don't think the Austin-San Antonio area is big enough to support smaller airports in both cities and a joint-airport between the two.

It might seem like a good idea on paper and I'm sure the folks in the San Marcos - New Braunfels area would have loved it, but I don't think it would have been in the best interests of either San Antonio or Austin.

Yeah, I forgot San Antonio/Austin is not DC-Balitmore.

[LoneStarMike]

Originally Posted by Mikey711MN

As for future AUS developments, keep an eye on the following:

* ExpressJet is launching an airline to operate independently from the Continental Express operation with point-to-point service primarily in the South and West. Routes that are too thin for Southwest such as, say, AUS-ABQ would be prime candidates for the smaller regional jets.

Thanks for mentioning this, Mikey.

This rumor is really starting to get interesting. It all started when someone noticed job postings on ExpressJet's website for General Managers in the following cities:

• Austin
• Kansas City
• Albuquerque
• Bakersfield
• Boise
• Colorado Springs
• El Paso
• Fresno
• Jacksonville
• Monterrey
• New Orleans
• Oklahoma City
• Raleigh-Durham
• Sacremento
• San Antonio
• San Diego
• Spokane
• Tucson
• Tulsa
• Ontario

That's a pretty good indicaion that both AUS and SAT will be getting new air service in the near future.

Here's where it gets interesting, though.

This article, while mentioning that ExpressJet would most likely do point-to-pont flying on routes that currently offer no nonstop service, also went on to speculate that: emphasis added

ExpressJet may establish "focus cities" or mini-hubs so that is can amortize its expenses over more flights.

If you go to the site that lists the job postings and scroll through all the jobs, some cities have more (and different) job titles than others

As an example, Aircraft Catering Agent positions are only available in Austin, Kansas City, Ontario, Sacramento, San Diego and San Antonio. There are other job titles available in some cities, but not others.

If ExpressJet does indeed have mini-hubs or focus cities, I wonder if these additional job postings might be an indication of where they will be. Then again, since ExpressJet also does some flying for Continental as Continental Express, maybe the job postings are for Continental Express.

This could bode well for both Austin and San Antonio, and we won't have to wait long to find out as ExpressJet is supposed to announce the routes on February 1, with service slated to begin April 1 and additional lfights added in May.