Tulsa Airport Among Most Expensive For Travelers

May 6, 2013
To make matters worse, the Boyd Group said Tulsa suffers from a lack of non-stop flights to distant cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle and Boston.

May 04--Catching a flight out of Tulsa International Airport is one of the most expensive trips in the nation, at least on a mile-per-mile basis.

A new report from a Denver-based air consulting firm calls Tulsa the sixth most expensive airport in the country for incoming and departing flights.

Sure, the average flight out of airports in Hawaii may cost more per ticket, but if you factor the distance flown between original departure point and final destination, Tulsans pay about 21.1 cents a mile.

"People assume that when you have Southwest you are going to have lower costs across the board," said Michael Boyd, an airline consultant and president of Boyd Group International Inc. "But that's not the case."

The report from Boyd Group says commercial flights have gone up significantly in price since 2008, especially when you consider the hottest airline trend of charging customers for everything but basic transportation.

The report tracks travel costs at the nation's 100 largest airports.

To make matters worse, Boyd said, Tulsa suffers from a lack of non-stop flights to distant cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle and Boston. That drives up fees because Tulsa fliers are routed to nearby destinations such as Dallas and Denver, which dramatically increases the cost of a flight.

Because most flights out of Tulsa are headed to regional hubs such as Dallas, the cost for flights is much higher than the national average, even if average ticket prices out of Tulsa are lower.

All of the nation's most expensive airports are regional destinations that connect mostly to other hubs in their regions.

Shorter flights mean higher costs, Boyd said, because it is expensive to land a plane, unload passengers and then get those passengers back on a plane headed for a new destination.

Tulsa is only 23rd worst when it comes to average ticket price, with the average fare running about $280.89. But that rate is lousy when you consider that Tulsa is located near the exact center of the continental United States, Boyd said.

In fact, nearly all of the most expensive airports are in the center of the country.

The fifth most expensive airport to fly out of per mile is in Cleveland, with Houston/Intercontinental at No. 4.

Third is Memphis, Tenn., and No. 2 is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport.

Dallas/Love Airport is the most expensive, mostly because flights there are restricted to travel within the state of Texas and a handful of nearby states. That rule is being lifted in 2014.

The cheapest airports are those that make the most long-distance flights, Boyd said.

Luis Muniz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is the best priced "domestic" airport according to the Boyd Group study, followed by Kahului in Hawaii.

Lihue Airport in Hawaii, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, and McCarran International Airport near Las Vegas round out the top five in bargain travel.

Those spots are tourist destinations, and the cheapest are only reachable by long-distance flights.

Tulsa leaders and aviation officials have been working to attract more airlines to Tulsa International and get existing carriers to add more non-stop flights.

"The airline is in control of the fare, and they set fares based on what the market will bear," said Tulsa International spokeswoman Alexis Higgins. "For our market we have four airlines right now, and that probably has something to do with fares."

Higgins said airport officials are actively recruiting more airlines as a means of increasing the number of carriers and flights in and out of Tulsa. That, she said, provides the best chance of landing lower fares for travelers.

The Tulsa Airport Authority recently wrapped up a community survey that it hopes to present to airlines in a request for more non-stop destinations.

The goal is to persuade airlines to add flights and make the area more friendly to business travelers, and therefore attract more businesses.

The airport authority has not released the results of the survey but could do so at its next public meeting on Thursday.

Airlines currently fly non-stop from Tulsa to 15 cities; the city lost non-stop service to Los Angeles at the beginning of April.

Traffic at Tulsa International dropped 1.9 percent between 2011 and 2012, according to data from the airport authority. However, those statistics mirror a drop in overall air passenger traffic.

Boyd said there is little Tulsa can do to lower fares, relative to the rest of the country, since it is so close to hubs in Dallas, Denver and St. Louis.

"You've got great air service now, and basically every hub that Tulsa can support it flies to," Boyd said.

"The discount carriers like Spirit Airlines, Jet Blue and Virgin American are unlikely to come there because they're looking for bigger cities."

Most costly flying per mile (cents)

1. Dallas/Love 24.3

2. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky 22.0

3. Memphis 22.1

4. Houston/Intercontinental 21.6

5. Cleveland 21.3

6. Tulsa 21.1

7. Houston/Hobby 20.6

8. Jackson, Miss. 20.6

9. Greenville-Spartanburg 20.5

10. Birmingham 20.1

Source: Boyd Group International Inc.

Kyle Arnold 918-581-8380

[email protected]

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