MKE Thanksgiving Holiday Traffic Expected to be up 40% over 2008
 

As this is something of a stand-in thread for the MKE airport, and Midwest is the largest carrier there, this seems appropriate.

Travel for the 11-day Thanksgiving holiday period is expected to be up 40% over last year, to more than 214,000 passengers.

I'd like to see how that compares to pre-recession / pre-cutback 2007, but they dont give us those stats. However we know that for the full month of November 2008, total traffic was down 15.91%. If we that that 15.91% downturn for the full month and assume it was the same for just the holiday period (not perfect but not wildly off, I'm guessing) here's what we'd get:

11-day Thanksgiving Travel Period Traffic at MKE

181,800 in 2007
152,850 in 2008
214,000 in 2009

So that's a 17.7% increase this year over the pre-recession 2007 period. Not bad at all. This doesn't mean that there will always be enough passengers for all the expansion Milwaukee is seeing, and of course the dead of winter will probably have a lot of open seats. Nor does it say if these passengers are earning anybody money. But it's still quite a feat, and suggests that the potential is significant even if MKE doesn't fully rise to meet the capacity thrown at the market.


http://www.jsonline.com/news/70590402.html

Wishing all my fellow FTer's a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

+1

Thanks for posting, Knope. I meant to do this today, but haven't had time to get to it yet.

These numbers are significant, and could reflect an increase in FL and YX/F9 connecting traffic being routed through MKE, as well as higher O&D at MKE due to Southwest, Republic/YX's rebuilding, etc.

This is great news, and proves what I have been sharing for the past couple months...that traffic at MKE is outpacing national trends. At this time, MKE is not a dormant air travel market. We are seeing some impressive gains. Clearly, more people are using MKE for their travel, and MKE is successfully attracting some travelers from other airports.

Last year, there were very few planes going out less than full. the 40% must be expanded capacity. The same full plane last year carries the same number as this year. And with DL there are actually smaller planes and less flights to some places.

I have been meeting more and more people who are electing to fly out of MKE, instead of their local airport. The comment I usually hear is that the airfares are so much more competitive out of MKE than ORD, with the ease and convenience of Mitchell added bonuses.

Especially if you are traveling with other family members, those savings can be multiplied several times over.

Northworst did its worst to try to control and stifle the marketplace (Midwest purchase).

It's good to see that despite Northworst's efforts, Republic,AirTran, Southwest ,and MKE are thriving.

October 2009 MKE traffic
 

Mitchell released its October 2009 stats, and it was the busiest October on record, with nearly 706,000 passengers for the month. Mitchell continues to grow despite the challenges of the economy.

Here is the complete news release:

Walker Announces a Record October for General Mitchell International Airport
Mitchell Moves Up to 28 th in Number of Cities Served Nonstop


(MILWAUKEE) – Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker announced today that October 2009 was the busiest on record for that month at General Mitchell International Airport. The October total of 705,989 passengers was an increase of 21.15 percent over last October’s 582,722 passengers, and was the first time more than 700,000 passengers used the airport in the month of October.

Walker noted that there were 123,662 more airline seats into and out of Milwaukee this October compared to last, and 123,267 more passengers. “Wisconsin and northern Illinois passengers have enthusiastically welcomed the new low-fare flight options out of Mitchell, filling just about every seat the airlines added in October,” he said.

Airport Director Barry Bateman said, “With 48 markets, Mitchell International has moved up to 28 th among U.S. airports in number of markets served nonstop, according to new data published by the Brookings Institute.” Mitchell’s rank in a similar 2004 study was 34 th . “This ranking means that more nonstop markets are served out of Milwaukee than out of other Midwestern cities, such as Nashville; Pittsburgh; Indianapolis and Columbus, and out of medium-sized cities elsewhere in the U.S., including Portland, OR; Austin; New Orleans; San Diego; Raleigh/Durham; Albuquerque; San Antonio and Hartford, CT,” Bateman said. He noted that competition has heated up at the airport since Southwest Airlines launched service on November 1 st and AirTran and Midwest have added flights.

The average airfare out of Milwaukee was lower than 75 other U.S. airports, according to recently released U.S. Department of Transportation statistics for 2 nd Quarter 2009. Mitchell’s average fare was about $44 less than O’Hare’s and $28 less than the nation’s average fare.


General Mitchell International Airport is owned by Milwaukee County and operated by the Department of Transportation & Public Works, Airport Division, under the policy direction of the Milwaukee County Executive and the County Board of Supervisors. The airport is entirely funded by user fees; no property tax dollars are used for the airport’s capital improvements or for its day-to-day operation. For more information on Mitchell International, visit www.mitchellairport.com .

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Nice!

At this rate, MKE will finally crack the 8 million passenger mark next year.

That's almost a 7% increase over pre-recession October 2007.

And this is before Southwest's first flight at Milwaukee.

Those who have said that the MKE air travel market is stagnant were mistaken. This is huge growth for an airport to experience during a recession. Everything is going right for MKE right now, and the flying public is making out like a bandit.

Funny to see even AA stick its pinky into the competitive mix a little bit in Milwaukee. Definitely an exciting time to be an MKE-based flyer.

Of course, not all of this new service will last over the long-haul, but it doesn't change the fact that, right now, MKE has more air service to more cities on more carriers than ever before. In my estimation, MKE truly is the most competitive airport in the US right now.

To me, the biggest wild card is northern Illinois. If that reallys starts to kick in as it (perhaps) already is showing, the county will be scrambling to handle demand. I like the AirTran banner ad that promotes going north this winter -- to fly out of Milwaukee.

MKE is already surpassing long-time rivals like San Antonio, Indianpolis, Columbus, and Hartford who were for years just a notch bigger, and the recent capacity adds have them passing or quickly approaching places like Pittsburgh, Dallas Love, Raleigh, San Jose, and even Cincinnati. Obviously some of those are significantly influenced by cutbacks at those airports from their former glory days. But nevertheless this is a time when most everyone is at best seeing flat comparisons to last fall's already-depressed numbers. What's happening here is quite remarkable.

Thanks Air Tran :D

Without a doubt. And as they build more of a conventional hub, the amount of traffic they funnel through Milwaukee is growing singificantly, too. The large majority of MSP-MKE and STL-MKE has not been local traffic but has instead been connections. Those count toward MKE's tally, too.