In February, approximately 69,311 passengers flew out of the Dayton airport — a nearly six percent decrease compared to the same time in 2016, according to the latest data provided by the airport. The amount of travelers in February is a decrease of more than 35,000 travelers compared to February 2008 when more than 105,225 passengers utilized the Dayton airport.
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The decrease in passengers come months after Southwest Airlines announced it would cease all services in Dayton, and instead added them to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
“Unfortunately the trend has meant smaller to medium-size markets including Dayton have been losing routes,” said Terrence Slaybaugh, Dayton’s aviation director. “Although we hate to lose any airline service, especially one that the community has been very supportive of, we realize the volatility of the industry and the current trend of airlines to focus on hubs.”
Southwest has added eight daily flights to the Cincinnati airport. The airline’s decision to switch to the larger airport is reflective of the expedited course that is off-railing smaller hubs like Dayton’s. CVG served 6.8 million passengers in 2016, an 8 percent increase over 2015, while Dayton saw inconsistent patterns and a clear decrease in recent years.
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The Dayton airport is a major economic driver in the region, generating millions in revenue and creating thousands of jobs at and near the facility.
Ten years ago, more than 1.4 million passengers used the Dayton airport. Passenger enplanements have fluctuated since then, but have been on a steady decline for the past five years. In 2012, Dayton served more than 1.3 million and that decreased to just over 1 million last year.
The slow in traffic goes beyond Southwest, which did see a 33-percent decrease in passenger traffic at the Dayton airport in February. Other major carriers also saw less travelers out of the airport — United Airlines posted a 11-percent decrease in traffic in the second month of the year, and Delta Air Lines also saw a nearly 10-percent decrease.
American Airlines, which consistently serves the most passengers out of the airport, saw a loss of 4.1 percent compared to February 2016. Part of that was an increase in passengers who used PSA Airlines, the A.A. subsidiary based out of Dayton.
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Gains were contributed by the addition of Allegiant Air to the Dayton airport, which began flights in April 2016. Since then, the airline has added multiple flights and will start flying to a new market — Myrtle Beach, S.C. — on May 24.
Jay Ratliff, an aviation expert from the area, said he expects to see even more airliners pull out of smaller airports in favor of large markets in the coming years. When airlines start to retract services, they are increasingly looking at what markets can increase their revenue.
“It’s the smaller airports that suffer,” Ratliff told this newspaper.
Slaybaugh said the airport relies on grants and federal funding to help with their aging infrastructure projects. The Dayton facility will need nearly $150 million for infrastructure improvements.
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According to a report released by the Airports Council International - North America, the need for improvements have increase by 32 percent at U.S. airports in the past two years, and the total need will cost nearly $100 billion in the next five years.
With less passengers, that means the airport is bringing in less in passenger facility charges. Those fees allow airports that are controlled by public agencies to collect $4.50 for every enplaned passenger.
Slaybaugh said airport officials are urging Congress to lift the cap on passenger facility charges. If the cap is lifted, individual airports could propose different fee amounts to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Airports have been neglected now for a number of decades and it’s getting to the point where if we don’t address some of these issues, then we’re going to lose the capacity we have in the aviation system,” Slaybaugh told this newspaper.
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The Dayton Daily News examined 10 years of passenger traffic data to bring you this story. Count on us to continue our in-depth reporting on the Dayton airport.
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