Mar. 9—The growth of Southwest Airlines at the Colorado Springs Airport has landed the airport a problem that most of the nation's airports would welcome: not enough parking during peak travel periods.
The Dallas-based, low-fare giant has made a major impact at Colorado's second-largest airport, becoming its largest carrier in the first month of service, boosting the airport's passenger traffic to a 13-year high last year and helping to push airfares down 25.6% between the final quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of last year.
Southwest expanded to Colorado Springs March 11 with 13 daily nonstop flights to Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
"No one can deny that the arrival of Southwest in Colorado Springs has been a game changer," said Johnna Reeder-Kleymeyer, who became CEO in December of the Colorado Springs Chamber & Economic Development Corp. "The Southwest Effect — once they come to an airport, you see an increased number of flights and lower fares through competition. We are very pleased with year one and want to continue and grow the partnership with our community."
Southwest was a big part of surging passenger numbers at the airport — the carrier boarded more than 35% of the 935,952 passengers who left on ongoing flights last year in just a 9 1/2 -month period.
The annual total for 2021 was up more than 150% from 2020's 37-year low, when travel nearly came to a stop in the early months of the pandemic , and was the most for any year since 2008.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers is confident the airport will hit 1 million passengers this year and is hoping for "at least 1.2 million," which would be the most since 1.22 million in 2000.
That would be more than double the 586,783 passengers that boarded outgoing flights in 2015, Suthers' first year as mayor, when he launched a high-profile campaign to boost local airline service.
"It has been what I expected — I thought Southwest would very quickly become the major airline here," Suthers said. "But we need to make sure they stay by growing the load factor (the percentage of seats sold, which was 64.7% for Southwest, compared to more than 70% for the airport's four other carriers).
"I think their load factor will grow this year. We want to keep all of our carriers and see them grow."
That growth has filled the airport's parking lots on several busy days during the summer as well as the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. As a result, airport officials are looking at reopening a 500-space overflow parking lot last used in the late 1990s. Back then, Western Pacific Airlines used Colorado Springs as a hub and attracted more than 2.4 million outbound passengers at its peak in 1996.
Over the longer term, airport managers are studying whether to consolidate rental-car facilities in a parking garage near the overflow lot. That move would free up hundreds of spaces east of the short-term parking lot and allow expansion of long-term parking to the south on land where rental-car providers have offices and other facilities.
That project could cost more than $15 million, paid for by fees rental companies charge customers, and would take five years or more to complete.
Greg Phillips, Colorado Springs aviation director, said the airport also is, as part of major renovation of the passenger terminal. It would include expanding the area where passengers line up to enter the security checkpoint; expanding the baggage-handling system; and increasing passenger capacity at several gates.
Phillips said the airport also could squeeze more capacity out of its 12 gates by adopting a "common use," or shared model, rather than each airline being assigned a gate or gates.
Jason Van Eaton, Southwest's senior vice president of real estate and government affairs and executive ambassador to Colorado, said the airline "couldn't be happier with the results of our first year in Colorado Springs.
"Travelers across the region have welcomed us with open arms and we became the market-share leader practically overnight. We are working at continuing to deepen our relationship with customers in the Colorado Springs area."
However, don't expect Southwest to expand its flight schedule in Colorado Springs soon. Van Eaton said the carrier is focusing on building a mix of leisure and business travel on its local flights and doesn't plan to add Houston or San Antonio, Texas, to its permanent schedule in the short term. That is despite encouraging results flying nonstop on a test basis to both cities from Colorado Springs during the holidays.
"It (adding the two cities) is probably not something that we would continue until we see more results and the market maturing," Van Eaton said. "It typically takes about two years for a market to mature fully, for our brand to be known and customers have the opportunity to fly us and we can market our frequent-flyer program and credit card in the area.
"We are always evaluating service levels and if more customers fly out of Colorado Springs, that will support our ability to add flights."
Southwest doesn't have either the aircraft or workers now to add flights to its network but the carrier is scheduled to receive 114 Boeing 737s later this year and plans to add up to 16,000 employees by year-end. Van Eaton said most of those additional planes and people are expected to be used to add additional flights at the carrier's largest hubs, including Denver, Las Vegas and Phoenix.
Southwest's biggest impact for consumers may have come by pushing fares lower. A study by ValuePenguin, a personal finance website owned by LendingTree, found fares at the Colorado Springs Airport fell 25.6% from an average of $407.95 in the fourth quarter of 2019 and to $303.63 in the second quarter of 2021. That is the seventh-largest decline among the nation's 100 biggest airports, and it represents a cut in local fares from 9.3% above the national average to 1.2% above the average.
Southwest's arrival in Colorado Springs "has meant more competitive fares (to the same destination) with Denver. We believe those fares are driving customers to use the Colorado Springs Airport instead of DIA ( Denver International Airport," said Joe Nevill, air service development manager for the Colorado Springs Airport. "Our own study shows that the average one-way cost premium for Colorado Springs over Denver in the third quarter of 2021 was just $24."
The carrier's expansion to Colorado Springs culminated a more than 20-year effort to bring Southwest to the city and was part of the airline's effort to put unused aircraft and crews to work that had been idled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Southwest added Colorado Springs and 17 other cities in November 2020 and November 2021, the biggest expansion during any 12-month period in the airline's 50-year history.
" Southwest brought an entirely new (route) network to Colorado Springs — something the community wanted for more than 20 years. Southwest made the decision to go boldly where no other air carrier had gone — looking for new opportunities while others were cutting back," Phillips said.
"Other carriers have responded by increasing capacity out of Colorado Springs, which means more mainline aircraft instead of regional jets."
Local officials say the additional nonstop flights and lower fares from Southwest also have brought benefits for the local tourism industry, bringing thousands of additional tourists to Colorado Springs. Southwest's arrival also benefited economic development, helping efforts to attract and retain major employers that would not have considered expanding to the area before the carrier began flying here.
Doug Price, CEO of Visit Colorado Springs, said Southwest has "had a bigger impact than I could have ever imagined. I never imagined the impact they have made, especially during the pandemic." Price credits Southwest's arrival with pushing revenue from the city's tax on hotel rooms and rental cars to record levels and helping fill hotel rooms, even during months when the tourism industry is in its slow season.
The passenger traffic gains generated by Southwest and other carriers helped Visit Colorado Springs land nearly $1 million in federal stimulus money for tourism promotion. The agency will use the funds to market the area this summer to visitors from Austin, Texas; Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., cities not typically included in its annual marketing campaign.
Reeder-Kleymeyer, the chamber CEO, said the arrival of Southwest also has turned air service from a negative for economic development into a positive.
She said site selection consultants had told her the lack of air service in Colorado Springs before Southwest's arrival had hindered local economic development efforts, since employers didn't want their workers to have to spend extra time driving to DIA for more nonstop flight choices.
"Time is money, and having to drive more than an hour to catch a flight decreased our competitiveness," Reeder Kleymeyer said. "The arrival of Southwest helped in a big way with flight options and competitive fares."
___
(c)2022 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Visit The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) at www.gazette.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
