Chicago flight sales picking up

July 13, 2016 at 12:08a.m.

VIENNA

The Youngstown/Chicago Great Lakes JetExpress air service had its best sales day so far July 11.

Ticket sales were $6,355 at an average based booked fare of $94.85.

“We need to be averaging at $8,500 a day in ticket sales,” said Dan Dickten, director of aviation at the Youngstown airport during the Western Reserve Port Authority’s aviation committee meeting Tuesday. “We are moving in the right direction but not nearly as fast as we’d like to.”

The Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport to Chicago O’Hare International Airport flights launched July 1.

Problems that arose with the ticket reservation system and the loss of booking with United were some factors in the slow start, Dickten told the committee members. But airport officials expect the startup service to lose money in the beginning, as most do.

“What has hurt us the most was we launched this and the very next weekend after we launched United pulled the tickets off the website,” Dickten said. “They are doing an investigation. We don’t know what the true issues are, but we are about to find out.”

United is the biggest connection at O’Hare. Passengers on the Great Lake JetExpress can connect to an American or Delta flight. More connections are expected in the future.

“Bookings aren’t as robust as we would like them to be, but they are moving in a positive direction.” Dickten said.

June passenger counts at the airport were 6,179 departing passengers and 6,037 arriving passengers for a total of 12,216 passengers.

This compared with 8,241 departing passengers and 7,859 arriving passengers in June 2015 for a total of 16,100.

The drop in passenger count is attributed to Allegiant pulling back on service at the airport. In total, Allegiant flights are down by 25 during the first six months of the year compared with the first six months of 2015.

Allegiant, a leisure air service, offers flights to Orlando, Ft.Myers/Punta Gorda, Tampa and Myrtle Beach, S.C., from the Youngstown airport.

The Punta Gorda service is typically placed on an eight- to 10-week hiatus after it runs from late September to mid-August, Dickten explained. This year, Allegiant has decided to put the service on an extended hiatus.

It is expected to return, although airport officials have not been told when it will. The hope is to see it returned by mid-February 2017, Dickten said.

Also at the meeting, the committee reviewed items for the board to later review and consider for approval.

The committee passed a motion for the WRPA board to authorize Dickten to enter into a ground rent agreement with JJC Investment Trust LLC.

J.J. Cafaro of the well-known Cafaro family, retail developers, came to the meeting to show his plans to build a hangar for his Challenger 850 corporate jet aircraft.

Annual rent would initially be $19,602. The WRPA board will review the motion at its July 20 meeting.

At that meeting, the board will also consider adjusting airport landing fees and parking fees.

The aviation committee discussed increasing landing fees at the airport. General aviation landings cost $0.99 per 1,000 pounds at the airport, which hasn’t been changed in 10 years.

Planes that are housed at the airport and planes under 6,000 pounds do not pay landing fees.

After discussion, the committee decided to ask the WRPA to consider phasing in an increase for generation aviation operators: $1.09 for the first year to $1.19 to $1.29. The rate adjustment for commercial service signatory operators to be considered is an increase from $0.99 cents per 1,000 pounds to $1.29, and for commercial service non-signatory operators, the increase would be from $1.29 to $1.49.

As for parking fees, the committee recommends the WRPA board go to a six-day a week parking collection from a five-day a week parking collection.