Airport loses routes but still provides plenty of choices, official says.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

The loss of a few routes hasn't made that much of a dent in the travel options out of the Eugene Airport, local officials say, adding that people should keep using the airport to reduce the chances of further cuts.

The anticipated loss of the only direct flight to Phoenix, the loss of the only nonstop flight to Los Angeles and the earlier loss of a flight to Las Vegas won't crimp that many travelers, airport Director Tim Doll said. Eugene still offers direct flights to five major hubs - Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Denver and Salt Lake City - and it still has direct flights to Las Vegas.

"We can get people anywhere they need to get in the world," Doll said. "We need to support the local airport and fly out of the local airport."

U.S. Airways announced earlier this week that it will end nonstop service to Phoenix in October.

If no other carrier picks up the route, that reduction, coupled with other recent announcements, would leave the total number of seats available on flights out of Eugene down 17.6 percent from last October.

Numerous airlines are cutting back peripheral service routes nationwide as they struggle to stay aloft in the economic downturn.

Over the years, carriers have repeatedly added flights to and from Eugene during boom times, then scaled them back in bad times as business people and other customers skimped on travel.

Even if the Phoenix route dies, Doll said airlines still will offer 8,879 seats a week on flights out of Eugene. And he said it's still possible that won't happen.

"We're working with other carriers to get that corrected," he said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to fill that gap."

If another carrier does pick up the route, that would cut the number of lost seats significantly, Doll said.

He said he also istrying to convince another carrier to pick up the nonstop flight to Los Angeles, but he noted Eugene passengers still have a separate flight to Los Angeles that stops only briefly in Medford and doesn't require them to get off the plane.

Delta Air Lines has said it is ending its ties to ExpressJet, which offers the nonstop Los Angeles flights as a Delta Connections carrier. It is unclear whether some of the ExpressJet flights might be picked up by another carrier.

In the meantime, Doll urged people to continue using the airport. The only way to reduce the chances of further cutbacks is to maintain passenger numbers, he said.

That's because the steep run-up in jet fuel prices due to the spiraling cost of oil has airlines everywhere looking for ways to reduce costs.

"To retain the air service that we have here, we need to have the passengers that are flying out of the Eugene area fly out of the local airport instead of driving to Portland," Doll said. "If we want to maintain our air service, we have to have passengers on the airplanes. It's a tough time out there in the aviation industry right now."

With the price of gasoline and parking, Doll said it's unlikely that many people can save money by driving to Portland International.

Another problem for the Eugene Airport is the rising cost of airline tickets, which is also tied to the price of oil. Doll said the number of passengers flying out of Eugene decreased about 2 percent in May, the most recent month for which figures are available, compared with the same month last year.

That's the first time in more than a year the airport has seen a decline in monthly numbers compared with the same month in the previous year. It's likely due to rising prices because it came before the announced flight reductions.