While there remain important issues to discuss regarding the local airport, the letter from Richard Ruth (Herald, Feb. 5) cries out for an immediate response. Regarding airline deregulation, there have been numerous studies showing that taking into account the effects of inflation, airfares today are two to three times cheaper than they were before 1978. In other words, the cost per mile has dropped from around $0.28 to under $0.12. Just from 1994 to 2013, the average airfare was 17 percent cheaper when adjusted for inflation. These studies are easy to find with a few Internet searches.
It is true that airlines enter and exit markets as they respond to economic imperatives, but the wish for a return to regulation of the 1978 era at this point would be a costly mistake. As to the comments about Southwest Airlines, Ruth is dreaming. Southwest may be coy about its strategies in entering new markets, but you can be sure the airline does not go into any that are the size of Durango. A quick look at Southwest’s route map will underscore that. Further, take a look at the flights that currently serve our airport. They are flown with 50 to 75 seat aircraft. The Southwest fleet consists of B-737 aircraft that generally offer around 140 seats. This size airplane is not economical for a market such as ours. And Southwest does not use smaller regional contract carriers for secondary markets, as do United and American.
Third, the claim that our airport is at capacity in terms of runways is simply way off the mark. As the Jviation report says, the runway will not reach even one-third of its capacity by the year 2035. If you want to see what runway capacity looks like, look no further than California’s John Wayne (Orange County) or San Diego airports, both of which have only one runway and serve more than four to 46 times the number of enplanements of Durango. Finally, neither the size of the baggage claim area nor the wish list of TSA are what “lure” airlines. But that is a subject for another time.
Sandy Alexander
Hesperus
