Travel > Columns > The Sensible Traveler

Manchester Airport ducks the trend — traffic is up

By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff, 08/23/02

		Sensible traveler  Destinations  Where they went  Travel gear  Student travel

Air traffic has dropped considerably since Sept. 11, but some of those who are taking to the skies in this area of New England seem to be gravitating to Manchester Airport in New Hampshire.

Through the first six months of this year, slightly more travelers flew in and out of Manchester than did a year ago. That may not seem like startling news, but at a time when many fliers simply aren't and airlines are swimming in red ink, any increase is remarkable.

Manchester's passenger traffic was up 2.4 percent through the first six months of the year, despite small drops in May and June. Airport director Kevin Dillon expects to finish the year up 2 to 3 percent over last year.

"We continue to be somewhat of an anomaly in the industry," Dillon said.

Overall, the number of passengers boarding planes is down 11.2 percent so far this year, according to the Air Transport Association, which represents the airline industry. The outlook for the remainder of the year is uncertain, because travel isn't picking up and because airlines are now starting to scale back their operations.

US Airways filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month and American Airlines announced an important restructuring. Analysts expect both events to lead to a retrenchment by the nation's airlines.

Logan Airport in Boston saw its passenger traffic fall 10 percent in June, a slight improvement over previous months. Still, traffic was off 16.2 percent for the first six months of the year. T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I., was down 8.3 percent in June and 5.9 percent for the first six months. Its July numbers were down 9.7 percent, pushing the year-to-date slide up to 6.55 percent.

Dillon said Manchester has been able to buck the downward trend primarily because it has been able to establish itself as a low-cost, more-convenient alternative to Logan. Before Sept. 11, Dillon said, about 12 percent of Manchester's passenger traffic drove up from Massachusetts. Now, it's 20 percent, he said. "That's an astounding shift."

What's propelled the inflow of passengers, he said, is the perception that they can get in and out of Manchester faster and more cheaply than they can at Logan. Parking, rental cars, and many fares are cheaper at Manchester.

Security is less of a hassle than at a larger airport, simply because there are fewer passengers to process. Even with its growth and the slowdown at Logan, Manchester handled only slightly more than one-tenth the passengers that went through Logan during the first six months of the year.

Manchester has also benefited from airlines that are in an expansion mode there. Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier operating out of Manchester, saw its passenger traffic increase 13.5 percent during the first six months. It is one of the few airlines that has not scaled back operations in the wake of Sept. 11. Delta Airlines has also posted strong gains, seeing its passenger traffic go up 46 percent.

FunSunTravel

Several concerned readers from across the country contacted me after my July 28 column on FunSunTravel, the low-cost seller of package tours to Orlando, Fla., and the Bahamas.

The column had been prompted by another reader who was skeptical of the $598 price for two. I raised serious concerns about the travel itinerary itself, but noted the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida had given the company a satisfactory rating.

Rayna Orgill of Washington state and Richard Satryan of Pennsylvania say they have encountered a lot of problems arranging a booking with FunSunTravel. Orgill complained of "horrible customer service." Satryan said FunSunTravel was slow to return calls, had told him the Orlando portion of the trip was no longer available, and was trying to charge him room tax in the Bahamas of $15 per person per night.

"Between the aggravation and the cost, I'm beginning to think we're better off going on our own," Satryan said.

Several readers charged that Montreal-based FunSunTravel was under investigation by the state of Florida, but state officials say that is not the case. Terence McElroy, a spokesman for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said FunSunTravel isn't registered as a seller of travel in Florida but doesn't have to be unless it sells trips to Florida residents. He said the agency has received four complaints about FunSunTravel, all from out of state.

Will Allouh, operations manager for FunSunTravel, said the company's travel supplier was unable to cope with the 5,000 travel packages the company had sold. He acknowledged some travel plans have been disrupted and customer service representatives overwhelmed, but he insisted the company would make everything right. He said in some cases FunSunTravel is booking separate itineraries for passengers and eating the extra costs.

"Obviously we can't please everyone," Allouh said. "But we want to maintain our reputation."

Jet air corrections

Robert Minarik, a veteran Continental Airlines captain, pointed out two mistakes in my Aug. 12 report on a new study that found recyled air on airplanes was not the cause of colds.

Minarik said the study's assertion that 100 percent fresh-air systems use a lot of energy because the air has to be compressed, humidified, and cooled by a jet's engines is incorrect. He said the air is not cooled by the engines but by heat exchangers. He said the fresh air is not humidified at all. "What is sucked into the jet engines at altitude is what you get in the cabin, very dry I might add," he said.

The other error he noted was entirely my fault: I mixed up the Boeing 727 and the 737. It's the 727 that uses only fresh air, and the 737 that recycles up to 50 percent of its air.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.