A new report on airline fares found some good news for Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA).
Namely, it calls into question the belief some hold that it’s very expensive to fly in and out of that airport.
This week, PTIA officials were broadcasting the results of a recent plane fare analysis that was performed by PTIA based on the US Department of Transportation’s Airline Origin and Destination Survey for the year ending the third quarter of 2019.
According to those findings, domestic airfares at PTIA dropped 6.2 percent for the 12-month period ending September 2019, compared to the same period in the previous year.
Kevin Baker, the executive director of the PTIA, said it’s nice to know his airport’s prices are coming down.
“We are pleased to see this downward trend in airfares at PTI and are glad to see how we rank among peer airports in the region,” Baker said in the wake of the findings.
PTIA’s analysis of the US DOT Airline Origin and Destination Survey also found that fares at the airport ranked favorably among PTI’s peer airports in the three-state area of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Airfares in and out of PTI’s were the second lowest of North Carolina’s three largest airports according to the findings – and PTI airfares were in the lowest third out of 24 airports in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Airports in Charlotte, Richmond, Norfolk, Washington/Dulles and Columbia all had higher average round-trip airfares for domestic USA travel than PTI.
According to Baker, the lower airfares are in part due to its low-fare carriers – Allegiant and Spirit Airlines – as well as to the increased number of seats available from most airlines serving PTIA.
A week ago, the airport announced a new low-cost non-stop Allegiant flight to Nashville. Baker said he believes that new route “can only help” in this regard once that service begins in June.
“We expect a more competitive environment when Allegiant begins nonstop service this June to Nashville,” Baker said. “That will mean lower fares from PTI to Nashville.”
