Jetport to launch fly local campaign
In a city known for its buy local campaign, the Portland International Jetport is hoping more residents will consider flying locally too.
Jetport officials are set to launch a major ad campaign in the coming weeks to remind Mainers that fares out of Portland are competitive with other New England hubs. The print and radio spots will emphasize the jetport's value as well as the all-important convenience factor.
"Would you rather get into (Boston's) Logan Airport at 9:30 p.m. or Portland at 9:30 p.m.?" said Greg Hughes, the jetport's marketing manager, on Tuesday.
The ad buys come amid a period of turbulence for the airline industry. Prof. Stephen Appold, an airline industry expert at the Keenan Institute at University of North Carolina, said passenger volume is down almost across the board as the recession has taken a bite of out both leisure and business travel.
"People are putting off trips or canceling them. There's no point in going on sales call if you're not going to make a sale, right?" he said Wednesday.
The situation is brighter in Portland, which has seen passenger declines in recent months but not to the extent other cities have experienced, Hughes said. February travel figures, the latest released by the jetport, showed a roughly 7 percent decline in 2009 compared to 2008 while January travel was off about 6.5 percent from 2008.
"I'd be kissing the ground if we could stay even with last year, which was an outrageously great year," Hughes said. "If we can keep [the declines] in single digit numbers ... then we're doing OK."
Hughes said airfares out of Portland began dropping several years ago with the arrival of low-cost carrier Independence Air. Although the airline eventually failed, he said its success lured JetBlue and AirTran to the city, which caused downward pressure on fares across the board.
"That put us into direct competition with fares you could get out of Logan and Manchester," he said, adding that the cost of tolls, parking and gas often bring costs into parity even when cheaper tickers are found elsewhere.
Statistics from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that round trip fare prices Portland dropped 20 percent in the period from 2000 to 2008, with the average domestic fare now about $384 round trip. Domestic flights out of Boston average $397, a decline of 4.2 percent from 2000. Flights out of Manchester, which remain the cheapest on average, rose 2.2 percent from 2008, to $329.
The campaign hopes to remind Mainers, many of whom have become resigned to driving up to two hours each way to catch a flight, that Boston and Manchester are rarely a better deal. Hughes said the radio spots will feature comedian Bob Marley, who produced "tremendously successful" ads for the jetport in previous years while the print campaign would show up in publications across the state.
Passengers coming and going yesterday from the Jetport said they have come to expect low fares from Portland, even if that wasn't always the case.
"Portland is usually the cheapest," said Kristin Farrand, 24, of Kennebunk. She said she usually checks Kayak.com for travel deals and usually ends up flying out of Manchester or Portland. When given the choice, she said she prefers to fly out of the jetport. "You save money on gas and I don't have to leave my car there," she said.
Gigi Sjulander said her husband John frequently checks prices at all New England airports before booking their tickets. More often than not, she said Portland is "totally competitive" with Boston and Manchester.
"It's a convenience for sure," the 51-year-old Hollis resident said. "If you have to travel to and from other airports, it's just not worth it for us."
"Flying out of Portland is as cheap as anybody," John Sjulander added.
Ahead of Portland's peak travel season, airport officials are confident they can continue ride out the recession better than most. In addition to attempting to attract new passengers, the airport is also seeking new routes and carriers.
Hughes said he is confident the addition of Canadian carrier Starlink, which recently added service to Nova Scotia, could add flights to Montreal later this year. Getting Montreal, he said, would be "out of sight."
