Altitude adjustment; Business again on the upswing at Bishop Airport

Sept. 25, 2007
Airport sees uptick in traffic

No one will mistake the past few months at Bishop Airport with the hectic days of the late 1990s when fliers swarmed the airport, leaving parking spots at a premium and making Flint the darling of airport watchers across the country.

But the past three months have sure been a step up over declines that continued into early this year.

For the first time since 2004, the number of passengers on flights out of Bishop has increased for three consecutive months, and it's happening just as the airlines here are gearing up to fly to new destinations in New York and Dallas.

Is it the start of a recovery?

"We certainly hope," said Airport Director James L. Rice II. "All the indicators are pointing that way. It looks good. We're hoping the rest of this year will be on the positive side."

The number of departing passengers from Flint increased to 44,834 in August - up 13.4 percent compared with one year ago, according to statistics from the Airport Authority. Traffic rose 7 percent in June and 10.7 percent in July.

The recent upturn comes after a decade of very rapid growth at Bishop, in which Flint became the state's third-busiest airport and the number of departing passengers increased from 112,000 in 1987 to 535,000 in 2006.

Until the last three months, business had generally slowed during the past two years, with more months of declining passenger counts than increasing ones.

Rice said the improving numbers are directly tied to airlines adding service to Flint. Some passengers agree it's making Flint a better option than it's been.

Airport officials know fliers have most wanted additional nonstop flights from Flint and that they generally prefer flying from Bishop if other factors - such as price and convenience - are close to equal.

"I've never enjoyed the drive down to (Detroit Metropolitan Airport). I think (with) more destinations offered, the more likely people are to use it," said Jan Nieuwenhuis of Flint.

"I do think some of those direct flights that are popping up are better for people," said Nieuwenhuis, 70, who has lived in the area since the late 1960s and usually makes several trips a year.

Already this year, Midwest Connect, which flies to Milwaukee, upgraded the aircraft it uses on flights from Bishop and added a Saturday flight.

AirTran Airways started nonstop flights to Las Vegas last month, and American Eagle added its fourth daily flight to Chicago. New service to New York on American Eagle and Northwest Airlines is scheduled to start in November, and nonstop flights to Dallas began this month.

Rice and two travel agents said those additions probably account for most of the recent turn of events.

"More service (and) more destinations mean the passengers don't need to go to Detroit," said Shashi Gupta, owner of Grand Blanc Travel.

Even with three straight months of growth, 2007 passenger statistics at Bishop are down 2.8 percent overall through the first eight months of the year, but it's a deficit that could still be wiped out.

Airline analyst Bob Jones of travel Web site bookingwiz.com said Flint should be positioned well as airlines try to reduce the number of delayed flights at larger airports.

"I think the future for Bishop is good. It's tied to reducing traffic at the hubs," Jones said.