Airline ticket costs rising at fastest rate in decade

Despite airline charges rising at their fastest pace in a decade, the number of passengers flying from Midland continues to increase.

Airline costs, including ticket prices and fees for extras such as bag charges, were up 14 percent in March when compared with March 2010, which represents the largest year-over-year increase in at least 10 years, Airport Deputy Director Justine Ruff told the Airport Planning and Development Board on Tuesday.

"Airlines are raising fees at the fastest pace in years," Ruff said.

Much of the increase in fees comes because of rising fuel costs that are being passed down to the consumer, she said. In previous years when fuel costs went up, Southwest Airlines was among those that chose not to pass down the charge to passengers, which helped keep costs across the board lower. With Southwest and other major carriers increasing fares this year, ticket prices likely will keep rising, Ruff said.

"Book early if you want to go anywhere," she said.

Even with ticket costs going up, Airport Director Marvin Esterly said enplanement totals for Midland International Airport are increasing.

In April, a total of 37,117 enplanements were recorded at Midland International Airport, which represents a 6.5 percent increase from April 2010, he said.

For the fiscal year to date, enplanements are up 12.7 percent. The number of seats in the market are actually down more than 5 percent from last year, Esterly said, which means planes taking off from Midland are increasingly full.

He said enplanements are tracking at 2006 levels and are higher than the airport's eight-year average.

Pulling up a graph that compares Midland International with other nearby airports, Esterly said Midland's numbers understandably rise and fall with the price of oil as they plummeted in 2009 and have been on the rise this year.

Lubbock, in turn, follows the national average for passengers much closer and has been reporting a decline since 2007.

Ruff added that nationwide the Air Transport Association is predicting travel will increase this summer with as many as 200 million expected to board U.S. airline flights. Much of that will come from international passengers traveling in the U.S. rather than from U.S. residents taking trips.

"We're going to see a big increase in travel, which is good for everybody," Ruff said.

Esterly said the Continental flight to Denver reported a load factor of 76 percent in April, which he said shows how much that service is used.

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