DAYTON - Starting on Wednesday, the Dayton International Airport will use more media channels to speak to potential passengers in its 12-county service region.
The focus will be on air service available from Dayton and the competitive air fares the airport offers, airport spokesman Gene Conrad said.
"It's really important that we do this," he said. "There's plenty of competition out there."
The marketing campaign will include advertisements on WHIO-TV and the regional Time Warner Cable network, along with increased appearances on billboards, the Dayton Daily News print pages and DaytonDailyNews.com.
The airport also has started a Web site to help air travelers find the lowest air fares offered for the flights they want, Conrad said.
The site - www.thinkdaytonfirst.com - is operational today. It complements, and links to, the airport's current Web site at www.flydayton.com, Conrad said.
The Dayton airport competes with the Columbus, Indianapolis and Cincinnati airports for passengers. The new Web site offers an online calculator to estimate what it would cost to fly from Columbus, Indianapolis and Cincinnati when additional expenses such as parking are considered.
The Dayton airport projects 1.4 million passenger boardings for 2007, which would be a 10 percent increase from last year's 1.3 million. But the numbers of air passengers are up around the country as the demand for air travel steadily increases.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@ DaytonDailyNews.com.
Airport campaign spending
The Dayton airport administration expects to spend up to $225,000 on its marketing campaign from now through the end of March, spokesman Gene Conrad said. If the results don't meet expectations, that spending can be trimmed, he said.
Under an agreement, the airport provides the marketing money and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce oversees the marketing.
The Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which operates Port Columbus International Airport, is just concluding a $45,000 advertising campaign on Dayton broadcast and cable television stations, spokeswoman Angie Tabor said Monday.
