BIA takes off Passenger traffic at airport is up 23 percent in first quarter compared to same three months in 2003

Bill and Shirley Jordan of Oakland waited at Bangor International Airport on Thursday afternoon for a flight that would take them to Orlando, Fla., and a 10-day break from Maine’s dreary spring weather. The couple admitted they could have flown from Portland, Manchester, N.H., or even Boston but chose Bangor because they didn’t want to deal with hassle at a busier airport.

The Jordans are a good example of why passenger traffic at BIA is up 23 percent in the first quarter of 2004, compared to the same three months of 2003. By comparison, nationwide traffic rose only 2.5 percent over the same time, according to Federal Aviation Administration statistics, and Portland International Jetport saw an increase of just 3.6 percent in its first quarter of 2004.

Rebecca Hupp, airport director at BIA, said part of the reason for the recent growth has been increased capacity and availability of service, but it also is that people like the Jordans simply are more willing to fly.

“I think, for us, certainly additional capacity has had an impact on our increase in traffic,” Hupp said. “But the general economic climate for the region as a whole is better; people are feeling more inclined to travel.

“Last year, people were concerned about the war in Iraq and they were also concerned about SARS, so that may have had an impact,” she said.

“We haven’t flown since well before September 11,” Bill Jordan said. “We’ve been wanting to get south for a while now and we found a pretty good deal, so we jumped on it.”

Shirley Jordan said she and her husband actually saved money by flying from Bangor because they were flexible in their departure date and time. The Jordans will stay with relatives just outside of Orlando and said they plan to spend a good deal of time simply relaxing on the beach. Bill Jordan said he wants to hit the golf course once or twice – if his wife will let him sneak away.

“I won’t be able to play around here for another few weeks, probably, so I need to take advantage,” he said.

One of the reasons for BIA’s surge in passenger traffic has been the addition of Northwest Airlines, which offers nonstop jet service from Bangor to Detroit, a major hub where travelers can connect with more than 475 daily flights to 12 countries. BIA added the Northwest service in June 2003, bringing the airport’s number of mainline carriers to five, but Hupp said that’s not the sole reason for the increase in passengers.

“Northwest has certainly helped traffic increase,” Hupp said, “but last month we showed only a 10 percent increase in capacity [number of seats], while the passenger traffic increased over 20 percent. Part of it could be because there’s more competition in the market. People are starting to see Bangor as an option.”

While it’s tough for Hupp to pinpoint exactly why the airport has experienced such a fruitful growth, she isn’t complaining. Numbers like the ones BIA has put up so far this year make it easier for the airport to continue to expand and provide new services down the line. Michael Boyd, president of The Boyd Group/ASRC Inc., a Colorado-based aviation consulting firm that does economic analysis for BIA, is in charge of crunching those numbers.

“Very few airports of Bangor’s size nationwide are able to offer the range of jet service and connectivity that Bangor does,” Boyd said. “Bangor has rapidly emerged as the airport of choice for many of Maine’s citizens.”

“You can generate with fairly accurate precision how much the airline will make and that’s what we present to them,” Hupp said. “We want to make sure [the airlines] don’t forget about Bangor when they’re sitting in their offices in Houston or wherever.”

Bill and Shirley Jordan said they indeed were surprised that BIA had such a wide range of services, though the couple admitted they hadn’t been to the airport in several years. Their flight to Orlando wasn’t a direct flight, but they have only one connection, in Philadelphia, and that was fine by them.

“When you’re on vacation, you’re not in as much of a hurry,” Shirley Jordan said. “We didn’t care about a two-hour holdover in Philadelphia.”

With traffic already up at a record pace and summer fast approaching, BIA may not be done posting gaudy numbers. Beginning June 12, the Northwest carrier will launch a seasonal jet service from Bangor to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., further expanding destinations in the West with just one stop.

“When we approach a carrier about adding service we don’t say ‘come to Bangor so you can bring our prices down,'” Hupp said. “What we say is ‘come to Bangor because economically it’s a viable route and there’s a market for your service.

“Adding a new service doesn’t require an additional financial commitment on the part of the airport,” she continued.

The airline, on the other hand, has to put up a significant capital and needs to know that it will make that money back.

As far as fares go, Hupp said, BIA has no control over the prices of its flights. Bill and Shirley Jordan were able to lock in a low price, but Hupp said consumers are at the mercy of the airlines when it comes to prices.

What BIA can control is its service, Hupp said, and as long as the airport continues to provide numerous options and expanded service, passengers should continue to swarm in.

“Our passengers will go elsewhere if they can’t get where they want to go from Bangor,” Hupp said.

The Jordans got what they wanted at BIA. And when the time comes for their next vacation, the couple may not bother looking elsewhere.