Travel and Tourism[ articles activities | features | links ] Friday, January 16, 2004 Daytona airport traffic up in 2003By JIM HAUG DAYTONA BEACH — Airline passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport increased by 16 percent in 2003 as the airport served 565,563 passengers.
Monthly traffic totals in 2003 surpassed 2002 for every month. In December, traffic was up by 4 percent. DBIA had 46,148 passengers, or 1,919 more than December 2002. The airport had the most passengers since 1999, but DBIA is still well below the peak reached in 1990 when DBIA served a million passengers. The nation had more airlines then as well. DBIA is rebounding from the impact of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. If the momentum is to continue in 2004, the airport is going to need more airline service, said Steve Cooke, the manager of business development at DBIA. The airport’s load factor, or percentage of filled airline seats, was 82 percent in 2003. “It’s a very high load factor,” Cooke said. “It’s almost impossible to get too much above that.” So DBIA is trying attract new or more frequent airline service. It would like Northwest to start a flight to Detroit. Northwest is in a codeshare agreement with Continental and Delta airlines, which already serve DBIA. Codeshare agreements allow travelers to book flights on multiple airlines for the same trip. This enables travelers to fly to destinations they otherwise couldn’t get to, such as flying from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Fargo, N.D. Airport officials are hoping Northwest will fly here to take advantage of codeshare arrangements. DBIA is also trying to recruit JetBlue for a flight to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and Independence Airlines for flights to Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. Ed Rinderle, the manager of business retention for the Volusia County Department of Economic Development, said the increase in passengers is a good sign tourism and business activity is picking up.
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