Continental Airlines, hammered by surging fuel costs, will pull all flights from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport in September.
The cuts, which represent about 10 percent of the local airport's
annual passenger count, mean an end of flights to and from Houston;
Newark, N.J.; and Cleveland. Continental's move is part of an effort to shed about 11 percent of its capacity. Sarasota-Bradenton is one of nine metropolitan areas losing all Continental service. "It's
disappointing," said Frederick "Rick" Piccolo, the airport's president.
"It shows you the impact of high fuel prices. They are just a killer." The
pullout means the loss of daily flights to Houston and Newark, a second
Saturday-only flight to Houston, and an in-season daily flight
to Cleveland. The airline discontinued daily service to Tampa on its regional carrier, Cape Air, last week. Continental
had a signed a lease through 2013 for Sarasota-Bradenton, so the
airport will receive rent of more than $250,000 for several more years,
Piccolo said. But the airport will lose the revenue raised by the
airline's landing fees and its concessionaires miss out on the money
spent in the terminal by roughly 162,000 passengers that fly
Continental out of Sarasota-Bradenton each year. Tourism to feel the sting Promoters also say the loss of service will be a blow to Southwest Florida tourism. Twenty-six
percent of tourists who came to the region in the most recent season
did so on planes landing at Sarasota-Bradenton, said Virginia Haley,
president of the Sarasota County Convention & Visitors Bureau. "That
is really going to hurt," Haley said. "But, sadly, I'm not surprised.
We were incredibly lucky up until this point -- during that big wave of
pullouts last week we were untouched." Continental's departure
will be less of a blow for businesses because the routes lost were
once-a-day flights that were not particularly attractive to those kind
of travelers, said Nancy Engel, executive director of the Manatee
Economic Development Council. "Certainly this airport offers
convenience," Engel said. "But when you come to the business traveler,
it is a real challenge when you only have one flight a day because
business travelers are often up and back in one day." Still, Continental's departure will be felt, said John Rice, chairman of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce. "Any
change in service is never a good change for the local business end --
and others," Rice said. "It's never good to drive to Tampa to get a
good connection." Rice said he was confident that Piccolo will find a way to attract new carriers to restore the routes. Some
of Continental's passengers will fly on other airlines offering routes
to places close to cities lost, such as JetBlue's daily flight to New
York, Piccolo said. "We've been through some ups and downs and we've always adjusted," he said. "I'm sure we'll adjust again this time." Tough times The
pullback by Continental -- generally seen as one of the healthiest
network carriers -- comes as airlines struggle with fuel costs that
have driven some competitors into bankruptcy. A number of
industry observers say the current crisis is as bad as, if not worse
than, the sharp downturn that followed 9/11, which preceded a series of
airline bankruptcy filings. Some of the Houston-based airline's
cutbacks -- timed to occur during the normal seasonal travel drop-off
at the end of summer -- mean flights will be eliminated altogether
while in other cases, Continental will swap smaller planes for
larger ones. Besides leaving Sarasota, Continental is pulling out
of Tallahassee; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Green Bay, Wis.; Montgomery, Ala.;
Oakland, Calif.; Palm Springs, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; and Toledo, Ohio. "The
financial performance of the flights, coupled with the high cost of
fuel, have made the losses too great to continue service in those
markets," spokeswoman Julie King said. More than half of the
seats it is taking out of the air will affect its hometown hub of
Houston, where overall capacity will fall 7.9 percent. Cleveland
will feel an even bigger sting, with 13.1 percent of capacity slated
for elimination. Service to 24 cities will be affected by the change. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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