Eugene Airport works at landing more flights.

Byline: EDWARD RUSSO The Register-Guard

Airline service, important in attracting and keeping business in Lane County, has taken a nose dive at the Eugene Airport since 2001.

But after being hammered by the recession and travel downturn that cost the airport nearly a third of its flights, airline service may have hit bottom. Now, there are signs that service is beginning to climb back.

This month, America West Airlines announced it will begin service from Eugene to Las Vegas, starting in March. Horizon Air said it would add a third daily flight to Los Angeles. Earlier, in response to United Airlines' decision to eliminate air cargo service at the airport, Horizon said it would begin carrying freight on Jan. 6.

The additional service at the airport is good news for a broad range of companies in Lane County that rely on commercial airlines to help them do business.

"There are plenty of reasons to be encouraged about improvements in air service," said Dave Hauser, president of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce.

An airport with convenient flights is one of the key factors that corporate executives consider in deciding whether to move their business to a new town, Hauser said. A vibrant airport also is important to existing businesses, which need to reach customers and suppliers in other cities.

With the much larger Portland International Airport only two hours away by car, Eugene Airport boosters must work hard to retain carriers or else watch travelers flock to Oregon's largest airport, where they can get more flights for generally lower ticket prices.

Eugene Airport Manager Bob Noble said he expects the number of passengers using the airport in 2003 to grow by 3 percent or more compared with last year.

But the turbulence of the past 1 1/2 years, mainly the flight cuts and United Airlines' decision to drop large jet service from Eugene earlier this month, has made the airport less competitive in some key ways compared to the recent past.

Fewer flights and smaller planes, for example, mean 28 percent fewer seats for Eugene travelers than before. Before September 2001, airlines in Eugene had 1,842 seats serving the market daily. With the upcoming flight additions by America West and Horizon Air, the number of seats will be 1,312 daily.

Higher fares looming?

Some travel agents say less capacity will lead to higher fares from Eugene, which will prompt travelers from the Lane County area to drive up to Portland.

A survey of comparable ticket purchases last April showed that Eugene airfares were an average of $66 more expensive than fares from Portland. That was an improvement from previous surveys when it was even pricier to fly from Eugene.

Still, Noble worries that fewer seats mean people will fly from Portland because they won't be able to find a flight out of Eugene.

Noble's concerns are based on the most recent survey of airline ticket purchases that shows the Eugene Airport losing ground to Portland in the battle for travelers.

The ticket survey taken last spring showed that 60 percent of area air travelers flew from Eugene, and 40 percent flew from Portland.

The most recent survey, taken last October, shows the number of travelers flying from Eugene dropped to about 51 percent, Noble said.

"I believe there is more demand than what the seating composition can accommodate" from Eugene, Noble said. "What that means is leakage to Portland."

While the travel downturn has cut flights and seat volumes at Eugene, Hauser said, the airport still nurtures, rather than hinders, local economic development.

With the America West Express Las Vegas flight beginning in March, air carriers in 2003 will fly nonstop from Eugene to seven cities. In 1998, carriers flew nonstop from Eugene to four cities, Hauser noted.

Selling Lane County

Noble and Hauser work steadily to try to attract airlines, as do officials and business leaders in other cities.

Before September 2001, for example, Noble and Hauser had persuaded Delta Airlines to resume SkyWest Delta Connection flights from Eugene to Salt Lake City.

Atlanta-based Delta and SkyWest Airlines of St. George, Utah, had operated from Eugene until 1998 when SkyWest pulled its planes to serve other cities.

But Delta shelved the resumption of service because of the travel downturn following the terrorist attacks. Last year, Noble and Hauser renewed their bid to lure Delta back to Eugene.

With competitive pressures keeping airfares low, Noble said, Delta executives say they aren't sure if they can make enough profit on tickets from Eugene to Salt Lake.

In order to land Delta, the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce is willing to round up pledges by businesses to buy tickets on the flights for a specified amount of time. That's an incentive method pioneered in Eugene in the late 1990s and subsequently picked up by other communities around the country.

The Eugene Airport may offer Delta a subsidy to help advertise the flights - something the airport has often done before with other airlines. Talks with Delta are under way, but Noble and Hauser say it's unclear if Eugene will be able to strike a deal that leads to Salt Lake service this spring or later in the year.

Details on the amount of the businesses' pledge and marketing subsidy haven't been negotiated because Delta has yet to take delivery of new aircraft and decide which airports it wants to bargain with, Noble said.

Other cities are wooing Delta, he added. "When Delta is looking at the markets, they will put the planes in those places where they think they can make the most money," Noble said.

CAPTION(S):

Airline travelers wait for their flights at the Eugene Airport.