Officials expect steady rise in passengers for Chicago flights

By KALEA HALL

khall@vindy.com

VIENNA

The Great Lakes Jet Express wasn’t as filled as airline and airport leaders would have liked, but it was only the first month of flights.

“It’s moving, and it’s trending,” said Dan Dickten, director of aviation at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. “It’s going to take some time.”

Flights from the airport in

Vienna to Chicago O’Hare International Airport launched July 1. During the month, on average seats were 31 percent filled.

“The [passenger] loads were a bit disappointing,” acknowledged Mickey Bowman, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Aerodynamics Inc. or ADI, the company that started the Youngstown-to-Chicago flights.

Bowman and others were hoping to see seats at least 45 percent filled.

Ticket prices average about $100 one way.

Operationally, the flights went well, Bowman said.

Eighty-eight flights were scheduled, and 84 were flown in July. The loss of four flights was due to air-traffic control problems in Chicago, relating to thunderstorms.

Most of the passengers aboard the 49-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jet in July were flying just to Chicago and not connecting to other flights. The goal is to make prospective passengers know that these flights are a bridge to the world.

“That’s where we need to do more of the work,” Bowman said. “A lot of it is about advertising.”

Dickten said connections are running on a 30 percent average.

“We need to get those up to 50-60 percent,” Dickten said.

Before the Youngstown/Chicago flights started, ADI entered into a code share and hosting agreement with Great Lakes Airlines. The agreement permits ADI to use Great Lakes’ established interline agreements for ticketing and baggage with major legacy carriers in Chicago.

The Great Lakes Jet Express connects with jetBlue Airways, Delta and American Airlines.

United also was supposed to be a connection, but the airline has removed those tickets from its website, which hasn’t helped boost connection sales.

“United does not have an interline ticketing and baggage agreement with the operating carrier,” said Jonathan Guerin, a United spokesman.

Great Lakes also has a code share and hosting agreement with Elite Airways, and United also does not sell Elite tickets on its website, Guerin said.

United does sell tickets for ADI’s Pierre, S.D., to Denver service, but Bowman said those tickets will no longer be sold by United when that service takes off Aug. 15.

“Originally we understood that we would have that connectivity through our relationship with Great Lakes Airlines,” Bowman said. “Unfortunately, United has changed that position. We are working diligently to try and restore that connectivity, but I do not have any time line at this point.”

Earlier this year, the Western Reserve Port Authority board, which oversees the regional airport, authorized a $96,000 marketing campaign with PALO Creative of Youngstown. In total, there has been $125,000 in airline advertising and marketing.

Advertising by PALO has included Facebook/Google ads, remarketing, TV spots and billboards.

“Our engagement rates were four to 10 times above the average, meaning that public interest was very high for these flights,” said Chris Spin, account director with PALO Creative, in a statement. “Users who clicked ads for more information were at a very high rate.”

The goal is to sell enough tickets to hit 85 to 90 percent of seats filled. At that rate, ticket sales would be $8,500 per day, and the service would be profitable.

The Great Lakes Jet Express has scheduled daily service 10 times a week.

On July 29, the airline had its best sales day of the first month with $8,200 in sales.

The airport has a $1.2 million revenue guarantee for Aerodynamics to operate in partnership with Great Lakes. Of the $1.2 million, $780,000 is federal grant funding and $420,000 comes from the local hotel-bed tax fund and other sources. Local airport supporters are still raising more of a local share to support the service.

ADI has received $361,714 thus far for operating the service, Dickten said last Wednesday. A reimbursement of $235,114 is expected as payback from the federal grant.

The local funds are reimbursed at a rate of 65 percent from the federal grant as they are used to subsidize the service.

The goal is to reach profitability next spring.

“Any time you start this, you are going to have some growing pains,” Bowman said. “Any time you have something new, people wait on the sidelines.”

The first month of any start-up service is expected to be a challenge, especially since ticket sales started 31 days prior to the launch date.

Brett Snyder, author of CrankyFlier, an airline industry blog, explained that travelers book earlier for summer travel.

“They didn’t have a lot of time to sell tickets,” Snyder said.

Good startups do make money, but it takes time. Snyder noted as an example, the Southwest service started at the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport near Panama City, Fla. The service was subsidized, but subsidy was lifted because the service was successful.

“Either the traffic is going to be there, or it’s not,” Snyder said.

During the first month, glitches with the reservation system also could have cost some ticket sales.

To reserve tickets to fly from Youngstown to Chicago, passengers must go to the Great Lakes website or call Great Lakes. Flights to connect elsewhere must be purchased on other travel sites, such as Expedia or Travelocity.

Bowman said the reservation system “seems to be working well.”

Overall, the service has been well-received, but there was some negative feedback, Bowman said. For example, some passengers had trouble locating the gate for Great Lakes because it was not listed on the screens at O’Hare.

He was proud to say the Great Lakes Jet Express was on time at an average of 82 percent. Nationally, more than 82 percent of flights have arrived on time this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

“We wanted to be above 80 percent,” Bowman said.