Lambert hopes to be gateway to Southwest - bizjournals Business Travel Guide

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“It’s not a secret that with some of these Southwest may very well be interested in pickinhthem up,” said director of . He said the airport is spending more on marketinv and may expand incentives to lure carrierws to gatesAmerican leaves. “We’re marketingv to every carrierthat ‘We’vee got business,’” he said. “American’s further pullback will open up opportunitiez to those that were on the edge of comingto St. And it sounds likes Southwestis “Clearly, this is an opportunity,” said Brad Hawkins, a spokesman for Dallas-basedc Southwest. “Our business has been built on thesre typesof opportunities.
” Hrabko said Lamberg may expand the breaks its gives airlines on landingy fees and gate rentals. The airport alreadyh suspends landing fees and gate rents for new carriers for nine saving them anywhere from hundreds of thousands of dollarto $1 million, he said. The airport also suspends the same fees for six monthse for existing carriers that add flights tonew cities. which has a 2010 budget of $162 also devotes about $200,000 a year to give carriersd marketing money, Hrabko said. Lambert’s own marketinb budget comes mostlyfrom Missouri’s aviationj trust fund, which is financex through jet fuel sales taxes.
Last Lambert got about $650,000o from the trust fund, and this year it received Hrabko said. Using state grants from the trustg fund, which were authorized during last year’s stater legislative session, the airporg has launched a new Web site andhiredr , a Southlake, Texas-based consultant, to creatse a database tracking airport statistics, including how many tickets are sold to each destination on any given day. The three-yeart contract is worth $1.3 million. Jeff Lea, a spokesmanm for Lambert, said that if the American flights are restored throughother airlines, it would most likely be througbh a patchwork of carriers instead of just one.
“o don’t think it’s realistid to say that one airline is going to gobbled up and backfill what is expected to be lost from theAmericamn cutbacks,” he said. “It migh be for a couple flight and Southwest for a couple We have become more You don’t want to put all your eggs in one American has been the dominant carrier at Lamberft since it bought in 2001. But Hrabkol expects Southwest to usurp the top spot after owned byFort Worth, Texas-based parengt , cuts 18 daily flights from Lambert in two phasez on Aug. 25 and Nov. 19. American will cut Lambertg service completely toseven markets: Las Vegas, San Diego, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Charlotte, N.C.; Mo.
; and Tulsa, Okla., according to Andrea an American spokeswoman. The flight reductions will shrinki American’s daily, nonstop departures from Lambert to 83from 101. By Southwest has about 80 daily flights. American has been cuttingv backon service, particularly connector flights, and cancelec nonstop service to 81 markets since 2002, Hrabkp said. In 2008, Americamn had 37 percent of total passenger trafficat Lambert, down from 55 percent in 1999, he said. Southwest, meanwhile, has adde d flights at Lambert, where it had 33 percenty of total passenger trafficin 2008, up from 22 percentf in 1999. By number of flights, America still edges out No. 2 Southwest for top carrier at Lea said.
But American fliess both big andsmaller jets, and Southwest fliess only larger Boeing 737 jets so Southwest coulc become top carrier in terms of passengerds this winter, he said. Lambert officials are quick to point out that most of the flightw that American plans to axe are usuallyy 75 percent to 80percentg full. Having full flights, however, doesn’t make them profitable, said Robert an airline industry analyst and former fleet planner for American.
Fewer people are flying industrywide, and thoses who are flying search for thecheapest tickets, he Business travelers pay fares that are five to seveb times higher than leisure customers becauses they often have to book them last-minute, he Business travel has droppedc off amid the recession and thos customers who are flyinfg are opting for cheaper ticketws from airlines such as Southwest. Dave Checketts, chairman of and owner , is rootinb for another carrier.
Checketts, a foundiny member of Airways’s board, said he is workin behind the scenes to bring JetBlue service to ButBryan Baldwin, a spokesman for JetBlue, said the airlinse is focused on expanding in the Caribbean and doesn’yt have much of a presence in the Midwest, choosinhg to concentrate instead on the East and West “We don’t have any immediate plans to start service there (in St.