That's according to a report released June 25, 2008.
"But the Business Travel Coalition's report demonstrates that the Toledo airport's plight is hardly unique." - June 25, 2008 Toledo Blade
- SaveMyAirport.com
- Top 50 Large City Airports at Risk
- Top 100 Regional Airports at Risk - Toledo Express listed
- June 25, 2008 Toledo Blade - Toledo Express Airport 1 of 150 airports said vulnerable
- BusinessTravelCoalition.com
- Toledo Express Airport
June 25, 2008 e-mail :
I'm writing to you as the Chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, and
this morning we released a report detailing the top 100 regional and top 50
large airports that will lose service because of increasing fuel costs. Many
of these airports may lose service all together.
Toledo Express Airport is on the list.
You can view the rankings and have your community take action at
http://www.savemyairport.com .
Skyrocketing fuel prices have created a serious threat to the viability of
the U.S. airline industry - and that threat has serious implications for
cities of all sizes that rely on air travel for their own economic
well-being, as well as local companies that need air service to do business.
Studies indicate that at current fuel prices, one or more major airlines
could be liquidated later this year, wiping out all their service to
hundreds of cities overnight.
Congress and the Administration must take action to address the fuel crisis
in the near term, including, eliminating manipulation of commodities
markets; strengthening the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies; and
incentivizing producers to increase energy supplies, refining capacity and
develop new environmentally responsible aviation fuels. Stabilizing the
airline industry by tackling the country's fuel crisis must become a
national policy priority.
Blade story :
Among the criteria the Business Travel Coalition said it used to identify the at-risk airports are their proximity to other airports, especially those with low-fare carriers; potential service consolidation from the proposed merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines; a high percentage of leisure travelers, who generally pay lower fares than business travelers. and heavy dependence on fuel-inefficient aircraft such as regional jets. Toledo Express fits, to varying degrees, all of those criteria.
"There's no doubt that some of it has already happened," said [Kevin Mitchell, founder and chairman of Business Travel Coalition]. "But the cuts that the airlines have announced for this fall only account for about 14 percent of their capacity, and with oil at $130 a barrel the cuts are going to have to be over 20 percent."
Since 2004, Toledo Express already has lost more than half of its daily departures, and that decline will reach two-thirds on Sept. 3 when Continental Airlines pulls its three daily Continental Connection flights between Toledo and Cleveland. Two of Toledo's remaining carriers are commuter affiliates of Delta and Northwest, which fly three daily departures to Cincinnati and five to Detroit, respectively.
Four daily American Eagle flights to Chicago and less-than-daily Allegiant Air service to Sanford and St. Petersburg, Fla., round out the current Toledo flight schedule. Only the Allegiant flights use full-sized jets, while the other carriers operate a mix of regional jets and turbo-props.
"We really don't know" if any more service cuts are in Toledo Express's future, Carla Firestone, a Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority spokesman, said. "We're hoping this is the end of it." But the Business Travel Coalition's report demonstrates that the Toledo airport's plight is hardly unique: "It's everybody," Ms. Firestone said.
Toledo Talk ( transportation/airport ) :
If one drives less because of higher fuel prices, then hasn't one already decided to fly less by now.
What's more important your daily way around or a vacation? Unless your business depends on travel, and you are the proprieter. Oh well.
Does one care about what happens with Toledo Express? Any effect to the community will be nothing compared to the across the board effect that rising fuel prices have on the regional/national economy.
The cost to fly is relatively cheap now compared to what it is going to become. If you want to save Toledo express, have the citizens just start flying friviously without regard to their own pocketbook.
Cutback and buckle down. The ride to come is going to be a long and painfully downhill one. Vacations must go first. Americans who worry about their entertainment wants before their future economic stability deserve what's coming to them.
posted by nmorbushomg on Jun 25, 2008 at 11:13:36 pm #