represents local, regional, and state governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports in the United States and Canada. Cornelius explains that airports in mid-sized cities like Memphis, which has lost 40.6 percent of its total flights since 2007 due largely to Delta shifting its focus to its larger Atlanta hub, are experiencing the side effects of mergers such as the 2008 deal between Delta and Northwest. This past June, Delta announced that Memphis International Airport would no longer be a hub for the airline as of Sept. 3, 2013, and that the number of flights Delta offered at the airport would drop by nearly one-third, from 94 to 60. Pittsburgh is going through a similar situation. From June 2007 through June 2012, Pittsburgh International Airport has seen 40.1 percent of its scheduled pas- senger flights cut. How have these changes affected meetings and
conventions business? According to Jason Fulvi, CDME, executive vice president of VisitPittsburgh, they haven’t made as big of a dent as one would think. “We initially thought it was going to be very detrimental to us,” Fulvi said of the increasing flight cuts. “I’m not saying it hasn’t had an impact, but it really hasn’t made that big of an impact. A lot of second-tier destinations are experiencing the same thing. It has created a level playing field across the country. [Many destinations] are deal- ing with reduced flights, losing their hubs, and pas- sengers having to connect to get there. We would certainly love to have more flights to make it easier and cheaper to get here, but we believe that because it has impacted so many other destina- tions that it has became the norm for everybody.” Although the decreases at first glance seem to be dramatically negative, industry experts like Cornelius and Swelbar say there are upsides. First,
when major airlines like Delta and United take away flights from small- and mid-sized cities, it leaves open slots for low-cost carriers like Spirit, Alaska, and Southwest to fill them — which has already happened in Memphis, where Southwest recently announced it would start offering daily nonstop flights to Houston, Baltimore, Chicago, Tampa, and Orlando beginning this November. “Airports that experience changes in air service,
or have the potential to experience changes in air service, need to respond,” Cornelius said, “and Pittsburgh and Memphis have done that.” When Pittsburgh lost its hub status with US Airways in 2004, for example, low-cost carriers like Southwest moved in to fill the slots. This helped bolster service and offer more competitively priced fares to pas- sengers. “Whoever the major carrier is benefits from that,” Fulvi said. “At one point, we saw flights to Washington, D.C., on Southwest that were very reasonably priced, at about $250. When those went away, US Airways was able to raise prices, because the competition was knocked out of the marketplace. So it’s an ebb and flow here, just like everyone else [is experiencing].” Cornelius added: “A lot of these places do their best to hold on to the airlines they have, but when circumstances change, they change, too.”
‘A lot of second-tier destinations are experiencing the same thing. It has created a level playing field across the country. [Many destinations] are dealing with reduced flights and losing their hubs.’
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE But it’s not always as simple as fewer flights equal- ing less service. At Salt Lake City International Airport, the total number of flights has decreased by 22.8 percent from 2007 to 2012, but today the airport offers service to more destinations and more nonstop flights than ever before, according
Jason Fulvi,VisitPittsburgh
‘We would certainly love to have more flights to make it easier and cheaper to get here, but we believe that because it has impacted so many other destina- tions that it has became the norm for everybody.’
Scott Beck,Visit Salt Lake
‘One of the underlying pieces of information that may be not intuitive in the numbers reported is that, when it comes to meet- ings and conventions, we get asked about the destinations served more than [the number of] flights.’
PCMA.ORG
AUGUST 2013 PCMA CONVENE
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