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Preparing for Take Off

Airport Sets Sites for Recovery

By Andrew Sullivan

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly diminished the level of air travel domestically. In January 2020, United States airlines averaged about 2.5 million passengers per day, but by the time the virus rolled in that spring, that number dropped to 100,000, an astounding 96-percent decrease.

On the local level, the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport went from averaging 400 travelers to 20 during that time period, a decrease of 95 percent. Another signicant blow came this past September when American Airlines cut its service with the airport entirely due to the ongoing pilot shortage. ough it has experienced tough times as of late, the airport is looking and preparing to rebound.

We’re trying to build that back,” Airport Director Roxan Noble said at a town hall on March 2. “ is is hard; this isn’t going to be easy. It’s not something that can happen overnight. So we’re working to not only increase our relationships with our current airline partners, but talk to new airlines. Getting the information out of why Ithaca? Why should they service Ithaca?”

From 2021 to 2022, as travel demand rose, major airlines hired regional jet pilots to y for their larger places, o ering them three times the level of pay regional pilots earned in 2019, according to Matthew Colbert, an air service development consultant. is ultimately led to airlines grounding half of their smaller (50 seat) jets because they no longer had enough pilots to y the smaller aircra s.

“So it solves the problem; it’s now a more attractive career,” Colbert said at Wednesday’s meeting. “But the 50 seat jet that ew to Ithaca, suddenly the pilots make three times as much so it’s a lot more expensive to operate.”

“Charlotte, we loved; it’s a very popular route,” he said. “It took too many hours for the pilots to y, and we’re in a competition with other communities. Stillwater, OK … is paying American Airlines four million dollars to y there, to here, to Dallas. … Ithaca is not in this situation because of the strong economy and the level of travel here. But that is something that’s out there, and the airlines are aware of; they’re being paid to y there.”

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines still service the airport because they are committed to the market, so long as it remains at a level of pro tability that is appealing to them, according to Colbert.

“It kind of becomes a cycle of the more you y, the more ights that are served here,” he said. “More seats, lower fares.” e plan to attract more ights to the airport, according to Josh Nalley, Airport Deputy Director, is simple: expand what we have.

In 2022, the airport issued a community survey on what are the most important factors for travelers when choosing an airport. Out of roughly 500 respondents, 74 percent said price was the most important factor, followed by proximity to the departure airport (57 percent). Eighty-two percent of respondents preferred taking morning ights - 41 percent for 6 to 8 a.m. ights and 41 percent for 8 to 11 a.m. ights - over ights later in the day (18 percent for a er 11 a.m.).

“ e goal is, of course, more frequency, more seats in the market, raise our price down, we ll them up, and everything grows at that point,” Nelly said.”

“To get [airlines] to the table to listen to us for an hour is tough,” he said. “So we’ve had ve other airlines actually speak with us. We have a couple meetings coming up in the next month. We’re hoping that we can push out the big news that Delta is gonna go back to Detroit and keep us at JFK. United is gonna go back to Dallas, and maybe another carrier comes back.”

Nalley also mentioned that 2023 was the rst time in the airport’s history that it had to go to the Tompkins County Legislature for nancial assistance. e legislature allocated $2.7 million over a three-year period to help fund the airport.

County Legislator Mike Lane said he and the rest of the legislature is committed to the airport.

“We need this airport because we are a global community,” Lane said. “ at’s why when the airport came to us and said we needed some money this year … we said yes, we have to support this, and we have to help them build up again.”

Lane said residents can assist in the airport’s recovery individually.

“ ink about ying here instead of ying in Syracuse,” he said. “ ink about the extra money and the extra time and the extra lousy road up … [Route] 81 on cold wintry nights. … You are our best ambassadors.”

The City of Ithaca is seeking community input on the recruitment process for the next Chief of Police. The city has scheduled two virtual community events where members of the public can provide input regarding the qualities and characteristics sought in the next Chief of Police. The events are scheduled for Saturday March 11, 2023, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Monday March 13, 2023, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Seen

During the March rst Common Council meeting Acting Chief Rob Covert was unanimously chosen as the new permanent Chief of the Ithaca Fire Department.

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