Despite reports of a nationwide 3% growth in airline passengers last year and projections for similar growth through 2001, John Wayne Airport’s passenger volume remained flat in 1999, at 7.47 million compared with 7.46 million in 1998.
And 1998’s total was a 3.4% decline from 7.7 million passengers in 1997.
By contrast, LAX and Ontario both saw 2% increases in passenger counts last year. Average fares at all three airports remained flat last year, according to Portland, Ore.-based Topaz International, an independent air-fare auditor.
The airlines serving John Wayne were granted additional seat capacity by the county supervisors in March,a move that could make pricing more competitive. And though passenger counts were up 5% for January and February this year, that only brings those months back to 1997 levels, according to airport statistics.
With fares that are often higher than those at other airports, limited capacity, noise restrictions and a dearth of first-class seats, John Wayne has always faced challenges not found at LAX, Ontario or San Diego’s Lindbergh Field.
But the oft-cited mantra of higher fares at John Wayne isn’t the only reason more people aren’t using the airport.
In fact, for some destinations,like San Jose and Chicago,discount coach fares to and from John Wayne were the same or cheaper than those at LAX last year, according to Topaz.
“About 80% of our Orange County clients do go out of John Wayne,” said Scott Shadrick, president of Sundance Travel International in Irvine, “unless they’re going to New York or Washington, D.C. For those markets, most will go to LAX.”
And for Dallas, Shadrick said, Long Beach is becoming the airport of choice for cost-conscious clients.
Internet fares, too, have affected the way consumers buy travel, perhaps steering vacationers to other airports. But business travelers, who are usually less flexible in their travel plans, are largely unaffected by that purchasing option.
Shadrick said the biggest factors that send business clients to LAX,especially for coast-to-coast trips,are scheduling and three-class service (first, business and coach).
A traveler going to New York, for instance, has only three non-stop choices from John Wayne, all on Continental into Newark, while there are dozens of choices from LAX. And bigger planes like the Boeing 747s,which can’t land at John Wayne,offer more business-class and first-class options, thereby increasing a business traveler’s chances of getting an upgrade.
“You’d think people would be driven by cost more than they are,” said Steve Sedgwick, president of Foothill Ranch-based First Class International.
Sedgwick said if clients can get a fare that’s “close” to what’s offered at LAX, they will use John Wayne, but in markets where the fare can differ by as much as $1,000 from that offered by LAX or Long Beach the client is often mandated by company travel policy to switch. He said about 75% of his clients use John Wayne, but said Long Beach fares to markets like Dallas can be half those for either John Wayne or LAX. And he said Sacramento, Las Vegas and Phoenix are among the most expensive fares from John Wayne. Two of those markets are served from Long Beach.
“Long Beach is a great deal,” Sedgwick said.
Long Beach, which has long been under-used by commercial airlines, has three carriers (American, America West and Allegiant Air) and only 20 commercial flights per day, compared with 280 per day at John Wayne.
Richard Eastman, a Newport Beach management consultant and developer of travel software, called John Wayne a reflection of today’s buyer-driven economy.
“John Wayne has always had more demand than seats. (But) today travelers can more easily figure out how much they can save via alternatives,” he said. “When economics are about the same, people will look at other factors and other alternatives.”
Shadrick said those alternatives aren’t a reflection of a lack of desire to use John Wayne.
“If there were more non-stops and three-class service,” he said, “it would grow faster. It’s a matter of market conditions.” n
