“The growth we’re experiencing demonstrates our successful efforts at diversifying our carrier base with a strong mix of traditional and low-cost carriers and growing cargo operations,” said Candace McGraw, chief executive officer. “We’re pleased to see customers in the Tri-State region continue to embrace the added air-serve options and lower airfares.”
» RELATED: Local airports need millions in infrastructure funding
Growth and new opportunities continued to roll in for the Cincinnati airport in 2017. After a record year, Frontier announced it would add three new destinations from CVG. Then, Amazon announced it is creating a new centralized air hub at the Cincinnati airport — creating 2,00 jobs in the area.
“As we considered places for the long-term home for our air hub operations, Hebron quickly rose to the top of the list with a large, skilled workforce, centralized location with great connectivity to our nearby fulfillment locations, and an excellent quality of living for employees. We feel strongly that with these qualities as a place to do business, our investments will support Amazon and customers well into the future,” said Dave Clark, Amazon senior vice president of worldwide operations.
» RELATED: After Southwest departure, what’s next for Dayton airport?
Shortly after in February, DHL Express announced it was completing the latest $108 million expansion of its Americas Hub at the airport, and would add 900 jobs to the hub. Delta also announced that month that it was adding 13 new destinations to its services at the airport.
“Delta’s local CVG passenger volume has grown for 15 consecutive months, and these changes will certainly help continue that trend while benefiting business and leisure customers in our region,” McGraw said.
But not all regional airports have seen increased traffic. In January, approximately 70,690 passengers flew at the Dayton International Airport — a nearly 3 percent decrease compared to the same time in 2016. The airport has not released its data from February or March yet. Airport officials attribute that decline to a growing trend of airlines and passengers abandoning smaller and mid-sized hubs for larger ones.
The amount of travelers in the first month is a decrease of more than 30,000 travelers around the same time nearly a decade ago when more than 100,000 passengers used the Dayton airport in the first month of 2008.
The decrease in passengers comes months after Southwest Airlines announced it would cease all services in Dayton, and instead add them to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
» RELATED: Amazon chooses CVG over Wilmington airport to bring thousands of jobs
“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.”
Jay Ratliff, an aviation expert from the area, said he expects to see even more airlines 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.
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.
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