Grand Forks International Airport passengers will have about 100 fewer seats available to them come October.
Northwest Airlines is rearranging the way it assigns some of its airplanes. Customers won't experience any scheduling changes, but it might be harder to get a seat.
Currently, there are approximately 400 seats available on the combination of planes that fly from Grand Forks: three DC-9s, two smaller jets and two turbo props airplanes. Come October, there will be about 300 seats available on one DC-9, two smaller jets and two turbo props, said Steve Johnson, executive director of Grand Forks Regional Airport Authority.
Grand Forks still will have five daily trips to Minneapolis, the same number of flights the city has had since June, said Dennis Newman, managing director of North America planning for Northwest. Those flights are offered through Northwest's partner Mesaba Airlines.
Johnson said scheduling changes occur often - in the 15 years he's been at the airport, he can hardly remember a month when Northwest hasn't made some kind of change either in type or number of aircraft, he said.
Over the years, there have been anywhere from five to seven flights a day into Minneapolis, Johnson said.
"When we lose a flight, it makes headlines, but when it comes back the next month, people forget about it," he said. "In reality, it's fluctuating all the time."
But this change may be a little more drastic change than others.
"This is the least number of seats available we've had for a long time," Johnson said.
Northwest has cut round-trip flights at airports in Bismarck and Aberdeen, S.D., causing Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., to express concern about the cuts.
Johnson pointed out that the changes happened across the board, and don't point to any particular weakness at the Grand Forks airport. Fargo's Hector Field airport is losing 50 seats, although it's been doing well, Johnson said.
Northwest also has announced it will be flying 30 fewer DC-9s than it had previously.
The cost of fuel was part of the company's decision to discontinue the DC-9s. Compared with newer aircraft, they're less fuel efficient, Johnson said.
Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the cuts came as part of planning the company does every year to accommodate winter destinations.
To determine the schedule, the company looks at demand for flights and revenue against how much it costs them to operate, Ebenhoch said.
"Our load factor (the percentage of seats filled in October last year) was only 56% of what they offered," Johnson said. "With that as one of the arguments, you'd look at providing fewer seats."
In addition to the usual factors, Northwest has the added expense of higher fuel prices this year, which Ebenhoch listed as one of three reasons why they decided not to offer as many seats. The rise of low-cost carriers and general over-capacity in the domestic marketplace also contributed to Northwest's decision, he said.
Scheduling changes like the most recent one take place about eight times a year, he said.
"In dealing with 500 different airplanes and 400 different domestic routes ... it's the normal course of business," Newman said.
The next schedule change probably will occur in mid-December just before the holidays, he said.
Johnson said people who wonder about the airport's future should look at the condition of the airline industry.
"Predict the future of the airline industry and you can pretty accurately predict boardings at this airport or any airport," he said. "When the airline industry recovers and gets through this time, we'll see the normal increases you would expect."
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
