E-mail Story
Print Friendly
Send E-mail
Reprint story
Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Monday, June 08, 2009
American Eagle Comes in for a Landing Thursday
By Kiera Hay
Journal Staff Writer
Celebration events
After a year-and-a-half wait, commercial airline service in Santa Fe is about to take flight.
On Thursday, American Eagle is scheduled to touch down at the Santa Fe Municipal Airport at 11:45 a.m. with a nearly full plane from Dallas. Twenty-five minutes later, at 12:10, it'll take off for Texas.
"It's been a long time, but everyone is very happy to have the service back in here. We see this as the start of bigger and better things here at the airport," airport manager Jim Montman said.
The 11:45 arrival/12:10 departure schedule will be repeated once a day, seven days a week, for at least a 60-day "test period."
American Eagle spokeswoman Andrea Huguely wouldn't release sales numbers, but did say Santa Fe tickets are selling "very well" and that flights to Santa Fe are posting numbers above the Dallas "hub" average, which takes into account tickets sales for every route out of that city.
Montman said he'd heard the City Different was leading the ticket sales race among the handful of cities that will play host to new American Eagle Dallas-based service beginning Thursday. Besides Santa Fe, that includes Lake Charles, La.; Brownsville, Texas; Tallahassee, Fla.; and Montgomery, Ala. Huguely wouldn't confirm Montman's assessment, but did say, in a side-by-side comparison with the other cities, "Santa Fe is doing very, very well."
All but four tickets on the inaugural flight from Dallas have been sold on the 44-seat Embraer the airline will use for its Santa Fe trips, Huguely said, though the return trip is less full.
The trend is holding true so far for all Santa Fe bookings, according to Huguely, though outgoing flights are filling up better beyond the first few days of service.
"Generally, flights going in are usually a little fuller than flights going out," Huguely said.
Among the first customers? Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, who's taking the 12:10 to Dallas. He'll then make his way to Providence, R.I., for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
It's been well-noted by American Eagle and city officials that Santa Feans will need to use the service to make the business work. And, for the moment, at least, it's not a bad deal. Through mid-September, some round-trip fares will be available for $198, though travelers will need to book at least a few weeks in advance. Traveling time between Santa Fe and Dallas is about one hour and 40 minutes.
Several delays
It's been a long journey to commercial service for Santa Fe's municipally run airport.
In July 2007, American Eagle and Delta Air Lines announced plans to begin service the following December between, respectively, Santa Fe and Dallas and Los Angeles and Santa Fe and L.A. and Salt Lake City. At the time, the only commercial service in Santa Fe was provided by Great Lakes Airlines, which flew three daily flights to Denver.
Great Lakes left the City Different in January 2008, however, and delays in the completion of a required environmental assessment of the potential impact of commercial flights prevented the new service from going forward.
Santa Fe's airport was finally cleared for commercial flights using regional jets in February 2009. In March, however, Delta said it was nixing its plans for Santa Fe, due at least partly to the faltering economy. American Eagle announced soon thereafter it would only provide a once-a-day Dallas connection.
Montman and others are hoping American Eagle will eventually add a few more daily Dallas flights, as well as service to Los Angeles.
Montman said he'd like to see six or seven daily commercial flights in and out of Santa Fe, about half of those by American Eagle. That's about half the traffic seen at the airport earlier this decade.
At this point, Santa Fe is "getting inquiries" from airlines about the possibility of service, Montman said.
After the two-month test period, American Eagle will decide whether to continue flights and what the schedule will look like. Huguely refused to speculate about whether Los Angeles service was a possibility. "At this point in time, we're going to start off with one flight and see how well it does," she said.
A lease agreement with American Eagle goes before the City Council for final approval Wednesday, but, other than that, all the pieces of the puzzle are in place for the start of service, Montman said.
Incentives offered to American Eagle include a year of free rent. The city also has a pot of $200,000 — half of that from grants — set aside to help pay for equipment and other needs once the airline makes a long-term commitment. Montman said such incentives are normal for airports. He touted the economic return of the investment. In addition to the potential benefits to the city overall, which could include increased tourism, the airport itself is already feeling the impact.
The rental car companies and shuttle are seeing a nice increase in business, Montman said. On Sunday, the Airport Grill reopened to sit-down customers.
American Eagle has hired a handful of employees to be based at the airport, though not all full time. Eventually, Montman anticipates the airline's presence, along with the addition of more flights, could generate 20 to 25 airport-based jobs.
"We're just very, very proud and pleased American Eagle, especially in these economic conditions, has seen fit to include us as one of their startup cities," he said.
There will be a celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Santa Fe Municipal Airport on Thursday in honor of the start of American Eagle Airlines commercial flights between Santa Fe and Dallas.
Festivities will begin at 11 a.m. in anticipation of the 11:45 arrival of the first incoming flight from Dallas. The plane will leave Santa Fe at 12:10 for the return flight. Refreshments and a light lunch will be served. The Santa Fe Municipal Airport is at 121 Aviation Drive.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
