Aug. 15 -- Denver International Airport officials spent five years compiling data on passengers traveling between or through Denver and Tokyo as part of an effort to win a daily nonstop flight that United Airlines began in June, a key player in that effort told a Colorado Springs audience Thursday.
Laura Jackson, DIA's director of air service development, said in response to a question that Colorado Springs officials should consider using the same approach to win better and less expensive airline service, as a new task force launched last month by Mayor Steve Bach works to improve local airport traffic.
Jackson made the comments she and Lainey Kennedy, a United sales manager in Denver, spoke about the new flight to about 75 people at the Asian Pacific Community Luncheon.
"Know your market and spend a significant amount of time digging into the numbers. You must know your community and numbers, then build a strategy that is realistic," Jackson said. "That is why we focused on Tokyo -- because it is a gateway to the rest of Asia and it was a realistic goal."
In July, Bach appointed an Airport Air Service Task Force to recommend ways by year's end to persuade airlines to offer more flights at lower fares to more nonstop destinations from the beleaguered local airport.
A few weeks ago, the city also hired Seabury APG, a Reston, Va.-based aviation consulting firm to produce the detailed research Jackson said is necessary to win expanded air service. Seabury has helped airports across the nation win low-fare service.
DIA officials targeted Tokyo for nonstop service because it is the top travel destination in Asia for Denver-area travelers. But research found that an average of just 33 passengers a day took flights between the two cities, Jackson said. They found, however, that an average of 238 passengers a day flew between the Denver area and the nine next most popular destinations in Asia. All nine destinations could be reached on connecting flights from Tokyo on All Nippon Airways, a partner with United in the Star Alliance, a worldwide network of 28 carriers. DIA officials estimate an average of about 21 passengers a day from Colorado Springs fly to Tokyo.
The effort to win the Tokyo service was modeled after DIA's successful campaign to win nonstop flights to Frankfurt, Germany, on Lufthansa in 2001, and included at least twice-yearly trips to Tokyo to meet with ANA officials, Jackson said.
The Tokyo effort was helped by a 2010 treaty between the U.S. and Japan that erased limits on flights and set the stage for greater collaboration between the nations' airlines, resulting in a joint venture between ANA and United in 2011 to jointly market and share revenue from flights, which would include the Denver-Tokyo route, Jackson said.
United announced the flight last year, and began service in June after several months of delays caused by battery problems with the new Boeing 787 aircraft it is using on the route.
Passenger numbers on the flight are "definitely meeting and exceeding expectations," with more than 90 percent of the seats sold during the first month, Kennedy said. The flights are expected to generate an annual economic impact of $130 million, with more than 80 percent coming from new visitors to the state.
Paul Maruyama, a professor of Japanese at Colorado College, took the United flight to Tokyo in July to attend the Japan-America Grassroots Summit in southwestern Japan. He gave a testimonial during the presentation on United's new flight, commenting that it much easier for him to catch a nonstop flight at 12:35 p.m. than a connecting flight that left Colorado Springs at 4 a.m. He said he also appreciated having his baggage inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after he arrived in Denver instead of having to get his baggage in San Francisco, have it inspected and then recheck it.
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