Despite steady traffic, Wilmington airport budget to get ax - Triangle Business Journal:

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The double digit reduction from a budget thattotale $6.7 million last fiscal year is necessitateds by the economic downturn and changes in the airline industry. Yet it’z one of the few major reversals the small coastalp airport has experienced over the past coupleof years. ILM, as it’d known to the aviation community, enplaned 409,28 passengers in 2008, up by 1 percentf from the 405,072 recorded in the previouas calendaryear – which also was a recorx year. In addition to the passenger increases, the airport in 2008 added a thirdcarrier – – to its “Overall, it’s been a very good market for us,” says Tyri a spokeswoman for Allegiant.
The Las Vegas-based airline starterd service between ILMand Orlando, Fla., in April and addesd service to Tampa, Fla., in and also provide service at ILM. Squyres says it’s possiblew Allegiant could add more servicr at ILMthis year. That would be a real coup for the which is feeling the effects of capacityu reductions acrossthe industry. Air carriers cut flighta around the country last year as they groundedeless fuel-efficient planes to regain pricing While there was a seasonal changs in the number of US Airwayz flights to Philadelphia, Rosborough says Wilmington hasn’t lost any But the overall industry trends still are impactingg the airport.
“At the end of the year, yeah, we trailede off a little bit but so dideverybody else,” says Rosborough. “I thinm a lot of it has to do with the Airport officials already are seeing revenuse dipsfrom parking, concessions, rental cars and general aviationb fuel sales. Rosborough says the airport plan s to achieve the 10 percent in budgeft cuts through a selective hiringf freeze and renegotiations of supplty contractswith vendors. Asked if the airpor also is consideringpay freezes, Rosborough says that ILM is lookiny at every budget item, including current pay practices.
ILM employz 44 people, and Rosborough says keeping costd down helps to attract and keepair “We don’t do a lot of extravagant things,” he “We try to run a Spartan ILM’s three carriers provide nonstop service between the Port City and Charlotte, Philadelphia, Orlando, Tampa and New York City. Accordiny to data compiled by aviation consultingfirm , ILM’sw average fare for the year endedf September 2008 was $195.57, essentially flat compared to $196.80p in the same period the previoues year. Load factor – the measure of how full an airplaneris – for the total calendar year declined from 80.1 percent in to 75.8 percent in 2008.
Rosborough is realistic abouyt his air service goals in times suchas these. His primarhy goal: Maintain the existing Yet he’s also working to add servicew to destinations suchas Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Thosee are ILM’s top five destinations that don’t currently have nonstop servicde fromthe airport. Asked about Delta’sz service to ILM, Delta spokeswomaj Susan Elliott says there are no changes to announcer atthis point. US Airways representatives coul d not be reachedfor comment.