DOT 72-02
Monday, August 5, 2002
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel: (202) 366-5571
DOT Report Looks at
Low-Fare Airline Expansion Into New Markets
Some low-fare airlines are serving smaller and longer-distance
markets than was common in past years while they also seek to attract more
business travelers, according to a report issued today by the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT).
A special section in the third-quarter 2001 Domestic Airline
Fares Consumer Report notes that although low-fare airlines have for many
years helped reduce fares in dense, short-haul markets, some of these carriers
have more recently expanded into new markets and are competing more aggressively
for business passengers who are willing to pay a premium for last-minute travel.
AirTran Airways, which started business under the more traditional
low-fare model, has now expanded into smaller business centers such as
Milwaukee, Wichita, KS, and Akron, OH, as well as larger centers such as New
York, Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington.
Frontier Airlines also is marketing itself to business travelers.
The report shows that AirTran’s once-simple fare structure has
become more complex. In addition,
while the carrier’s average fares have increased in both short- and long-haul
markets, its passenger loads in both types of markets have increased even more.
Even with its fare increases, AirTran continues to hold down fares in the
Atlanta markets it shares with Delta Air Lines, the report says.
The
report issued today, covering July-September 2001, provides information on
airfares for the same top 1,000 city-pair markets in the 48 contiguous states
that were in the first report of this series, which covered the third quarter of
1996. The report also looks at fares in 313 additional city-pair markets that
have been in the top 1,000 during previous quarters covered by this report
series.
In addition to the special section, the report provides four basic
types of information:
·
For each city-pair market, the average one-way fare, the number of
one-way passenger trips per day, and the nonstop distance. Also included is fare
and market share information for the airline with the largest market share, and
the airline with the lowest average fare.
·
A city-by-city information summary for the largest cities, showing
the number of passengers, the average fare, average fare per mile traveled
(yield) and average distance traveled.
·
Price and traffic information about city-pair markets that
experienced increases or decreases in average fares of more than 30 percent
compared with one year ago.
·
Detailed
fare information for the highest and lowest fares for city-pair markets
including the percentage of passengers paying the minimum fare, the maximum fare
and three times the minimum fare.
In order to provide users of this
report with more airport-specific detail, DOT has made a file available on the
Internet that provides the information from Table 1 of the report in
airport-pair detail for multiple-airport city-pairs.
. The
full report, and links to the data downloads related to this report, can be
found at http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/aviation/
under “What’s Hot.”
The department will continue to issue the domestic airfare report
each quarter. Based upon public input, DOT will consider modifying the
information in the report to provide the fullest consumer benefit.