From toledoblade.com

Number 1 for take off

AirTran Airways is leaving Toledo Express Airport ostensibly because the airline couldn’t book enough high-ticket business travelers to make up for the low-ticket vacationers heading south. But that’s only part of the story.

AirTran’s departure, scheduled for April 28, is another testament to the scourge of airline deregulation, which has hamstrung air travel from many smaller cities over the past quarter century. And that fancy new terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport didn’t help, either.

Toledo happened to be one of the losers in the government’s 1978 deregulation decision, which saddled us with limited service as airlines switched to more profitable hub-and-spoke operations. That made a winner of Detroit Metro, despite a dingy and antiquated facility and long walks to gates that taxed the legs of all but the most fit commuters.

Now, with the completion last month of its flashy $1.2 billion terminal, Detroit wins again. Because the new terminal can be accessed off I-275 instead of I-94, Metro now is 10 or 15 minutes closer to Toledo in driving time, all the more convenient for those business travelers the airlines covet.

AirTran wanted at least a 5 percent share of the local air travel market, but local businesses pledged just $500,000 or so to a "travel bank" established by the Toledo Area Chamber of Commerce to apply to future AirTran travel. That was far short of the $2 million commitment AirTran said it needed.

At the same time, Airport Highway has been junked up and obstructed by runaway development, slowing the trip to Express Airport and leaving it effectively farther away than Detroit for many in the Toledo area.

With more flights to more destinations, not to mention cheaper fares, Detroit Metro will continue to prosper at the expense of Toledo-area travelers. Higher fares for those who continue to fly from Express are a foregone conclusion with AirTran no longer in the mix to provide competitive incentive to hold the line.

AirTran provided a valuable service to Toledo: low-cost fares and three flights a day to Orlando and Atlanta. Unfortunately, too few business travelers, whose higher fares help subsidize the rest, were headed for those southern cities. The result is a loss for Express of $300,000 to $325,000 a year in revenue.

It’s a double-whammy, too, because passenger volume at Express actually grew 18.5 percent last year, despite the Comair strike and the air-travel shutdown following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

AirTran operated from Express from 1996-98, returning to the Toledo market in 2000. So its announced exit is its second in recent history. Conceivably, it could be back someday, should travel prospects here increase. The four air commuter carriers remaining here are betting that they will at least hold steady.

No doubt many Toledo travelers would like to fly from Express, provided they could get where they’re going without too much inconvenience. But as long as the stranglehold of deregulation persists, we wonder if that day will ever come.