Nationally, states are seeing fewer airline seats offered for sale in August, as of mid-July in the Official Airline Guide. The information guide states that Wyoming will have 10.5 percent fewer seats available in August, compared to a year ago.

The number of available seats is generally driven by how well available seats have been sold in the past. Selling all available seats would encourage airlines to offer more flights and/or bigger aircraft as a way to increase the number of seats. Selling too few encourages cuts in the number of flights or the use of smaller aircraft. In between those two extremes, a range of numbers would encourage the continuation of the status quo.

Wyoming seat availability follows data collected by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT), which show passenger enplanements declined 11 percent for the year-to-date (May 2009) compared to the year before.

Amber Schlabs, of the WYDOT Aeronautics Division, said all Wyoming airports - save Cody and Casper - have posted negative trends for 2009.

"Cody accomplished this with lowering fares, while Casper boosted the passenger count with flights to Las Vegas," said Schlabs.

 

Cody cuts fares

Yellowstone Regional Airport was up 9.3 percent by May 2009. According to airport manager Bob Hooper, the airport has a 50-passenger Delta jet to Salt Lake City, with prices similar to Delta flights from Billings to Salt Lake.

"We've had the Delta jet since June of last year. Having ticket prices similar to Billings has cut the amount of passenger leakage to the Billings airport," said Hooper.

He said he couldn't say whether Delta would continue the 50-seat jet through the rest of 2009, or whether the airline would resort to a smaller Brasilia 30-passenger jet.

"We've had five positive months, but winter can get a little lean," said Hooper.

 

Viva Las Vegas

Casper Natrona County International Airport posted a 5.5 percent increase, year-to-date by May 2009. Airport manager Glenn Januska said the latest data indicates a net gain of 2 percent for the first six months of the year - largely thanks to Allegiant Airline's flights to Las Vegas.

Januska said some 18 percent of passengers who fly out of Casper, fly on Allegiant's twice-a-week, 150-passenger aircraft, a MD-80.

"I think Wyoming is doing better than most of the rest of the country," said Januska. That's borne out by the latest Official Airline Guide data, which indicate that nine states are doing worse than Wyoming.

Januska said Allegiant is a travel company that owns an airline. It has interests in the airline, car rentals, hotels and Las Vegas shows, and can put together affordable packages.

Their diversity in revenue sources means that if one source of revenue has a bad quarter, others might not, he said.

"In the 12 months prior to Allegiant coming here, we averaged 4,300 passengers bound for Las Vegas. We're well on track to hit 25,000 passengers this year," he said.

He's seen roundtrip airfare of $75 and knows people who've gone to Vegas for golf, vacations, meetings or to catch Southwest Airlines for further travel.

"People even fly to Vegas, rent a car and drive to regional destinations," he said - all cheaper than flying direct.

 

Casper loses flights

On a less positive note, Delta/Northwest will cancel its direct flight from Casper to Minneapolis on Aug. 18, he said. In addition, Delta will suspend one of its three flights to Salt Lake City as of Sept. 1.

Ray Rasker, lead economist at Headwaters Economics, said he isn't surprised that enplanements are down in Wyoming.

"They're down all over the country," he said. Although fuel costs are down dramatically from last summer's peak, business expenditures are down for such categories as business travel, advertising, hiring and so on, he said.

Indeed fares are as much as 63 percent this summer than last summer, according to an analysis by FareCompare.com.

"Airports do make a difference in economic development," said Rasker, citing his group's "Three Wests" study, which examined how the presence of airports contributes greatly to economic diversity and development.  "Airports provide access to markets," he said. "It is always important to people doing business to see each other face-to-face."

That's why Gallatin County, Mont., is investing in an airport expansion and improvement project for the Bozeman area - in the middle of a severe recession. "They understand it is a good investment for the decades to come," Rasker said.