Aug. 04--Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport has shown an increase in passenger traffic in June, the fifth consecutive month to show an increase, airport officials said Monday.
Passenger traffic rose 1.47% in June compared to the same month last year, according to a statement from the airport.
A total of 589,631 passengers used Mitchell International in June, and year-to-date, Mitchell Airport's passenger traffic is up 2.55% from 2013.
"During that same time, Milwaukee also continued its trend as the low-cost alternative airport to Chicago's O'Hare for Wisconsin and northern Illinois travelers," according to the airport statement.
Citing U.S. Department of Transportation data, the airport said its average airfare was nearly $57 less than O'Hare, and $24 less than the national average in the first quarter of 2014.
Airfares nationwide have been soaring.
The average round-trip ticket within the U.S., including taxes, reached $509.15 in the first six months of this year, up nearly $14 from the same period last year. Domestic airfares continue to outpace inflation, rising 2.7% compared to the 2.1% gain in the Consumer Price Index.
Airfares have gone up 10.7% in the past five years -- after adjusting for inflation -- according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Airlines Reporting Corp., which processes ticket transactions for airlines and more than 9,400 travel agencies, including websites such as Expedia and Orbitz.
The airfare figures don't take into account the slew of fees travelers now face for checking bags, getting extra legroom, boarding early or purchasing a pair of headphones. Those fees now bring in $3.3 billion a year for U.S. airlines and have helped them return consistent annual profits for the last four years.
"Milwaukee's average airfares were lower than 72 of the nation's 100 largest airports," the statement said.
The DOT statistics report the average price of actual flights booked at the top 100 airports during the first quarter of 2014.
Mitchell Airport offers nonstop flights to 36 destinations coast-to-coast, and 150 international destinations are available from Milwaukee with one connection.
MKE is served by Southwest/AirTran, Delta, United, American/US Airways, Frontier and Air Canada. The complete list of nonstop cities can be found at www.mitchellairport.com.
Mitchell International is owned by Milwaukee County and operated by the Department of Transportation, 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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