Nearly five years into the Fair Fares initiative, this should go without saying: Whenever possible, leaders of the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County should fly AirTran Airways, the airline that’s being supported by public dollars and has been responsible for keeping eastbound airfares affordable at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. So it was troubling to see, as reported recently by KWCH, Channel 12, that Mayor Carlos Mayans had flown AirTran only twice since 2004, both times for trips regarding contract talks with the airline. Even going east, Mayans mostly has flown American Airlines, sometimes earning frequent-flier miles for his business trips. He told KWCH: “Frequent-flier miles are not a factor on my travel. The main factor is price because the taxpayers are paying.” But taxpayers also are paying to keep AirTran here. If Wichita is to hang onto both AirTran and the low fares it leverages on other carriers, people must favor AirTran when they fly.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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29 Comments
This is one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t situations.
I’m no fan of Mayans, but this one really isn’t a valid concern.
As Fearey said when KWCH broke the story, “It’s about setting an example.”
Well, Mr. Mayor set a fine example.
I am a bit scared to fly on ValueJet, regardless of price. The fatal crash in Florida was caused by pure negligence of their employees. Changing the name to Airtran does erase that, nor will it restore the bodies lost in the Everglades due to their carelessness.
Yes..other airlines have had crashes. Like Alaska Air (another ‘low cost’ airline) that killed a plane load of people due to poor maintenance. It seems these ‘low cost’ airlines keep their costs low by cutting costs on things like maintenance, safety training, etc. And people die.
Is saving $20 on a ticket worth that?
Let’s see…
I think an even more interesting story is to see what percentage of people employed at KWCH fly Air Tran. Or would that be too much like the “pot calling the kettle black” story? :)
Accepting Mayans’ side of story, he doesn’t seem to acknowledge that a public official certainly should not only act improperly, s/he should avoid even the appearance of impropriety. He just doesn’t grasp that.
“I am a bit scared to fly on ValueJet, regardless of price. The fatal crash in Florida was caused by pure negligence of their employees. Changing the name to Airtran does erase that, nor will it restore the bodies lost in the Everglades due to their carelessness.
Yes..other airlines have had crashes. Like Alaska Air (another ‘low cost’ airline) that killed a plane load of people due to poor maintenance. It seems these ‘low cost’ airlines keep their costs low by cutting costs on things like maintenance, safety training, etc. And people die”.
Are you kidding me? First of all, since when has Alaskan Air been classified as a “Low-Cost Carrier”? I promise you when you hear or think of a “Low-Cost Carrier” they are not skimping out on Maintenance, or flight training or whatever else you think they are skimping on money wise. You did mention that every airline has had fatal accidents which is true, so if you are afraid to fly on Airtran, you should be afraid to fly on any airline then.
As far as Carlos, no opinion there, but I sure think making taxpayers dollars go to making Airtran fly in here is a joke. We have plenty of airlines that will get you from Point A to Point B. There is no need for a city to have to pay an airline to fly into their city. I do like Airtran and have several friends flying for them, but if they threaten to pull out, let em go. Lets make our taxpayers money go to something else useful in the city!
“I do like Airtran and have several friends flying for them, but if they threaten to pull out, let em go. Lets make our taxpayers money go to something else useful in the city!”Posted by: CaptainT | March 12, 2007 at 09:09 AM
Agreed Captain T.
Let’s start with a portion of that five million dollar supplement to Cowtown and the River Project. :)
Which flight is cheaper on AirTran? Maybe I’m going to the wrong cities, but AirTran is usually listed as the most expensive.
Do people NOT compare airfare prices to see the truth?
This seems like an interesting conundrum for the mayor and anyone else. If they take the lowest price ticket, then the paper assails them for not using the subsidized carrier.
Any chance that the paper would also criticize a city official flying on the subsidized airline if other flights were available at a lower price?
Seems to me like the paper has a perfect attack position, regardless of the electeds actions.
“This seems like an interesting conundrum for the mayor and anyone else. If they take the lowest price ticket, then the paper assails them for not using the subsidized carrier.
Any chance that the paper would also criticize a city official flying on the subsidized airline if other flights were available at a lower price?
Seems to me like the paper has a perfect attack position, regardless of the electeds actions”.
I would have to agree on this. Pretty much like earlier said, “Darned if you do-Darned if you don’t”!
An interesting conundrum the Mayor and others face. Without the competition from a “low fare” carrier (albeit subsidized), the American Airlines fare would likely not be at a price as low as it is or was; but, if the flight is taken on Air Tran, at a higher out of pocket cost, criticism from the media and others for spending more than was needed.
For my part, the flights by local officials need to be on Air Tran, to get its ridership up so it will remain in this (subsidized) market. Otherwise, eliminate the subsidy, lose Air Tran, and see what the market brings.
For my two cents, I do not believe that Wichita should be providing a subsidy to AirTran. It is nothing more than corporate welfare.
The wingnuts scream about subsidies for our citizens of lesser means, but they have no problem with corporate welfare.
Yes, WS, it is corporate welfare; not only to Air Tran, but other companies sited in the area. As was learned when Pizza Hut pulled its international hq from Wichita, the lack of flights combined with high fares on those available made travel difficult and costly.
My take: this is corporate welfare which is needed, if Wichita is to ever expand its economic horizons beyond the aircraft manufacturing industry. I further believe this subsidy is for all purposes, permanent; there’s not enough traffic from Wichita to sustain any low fare carrier. IIRC, when Southwest Airlines was queried however many years ago about expansion into Wichita, the answer was not only no, not even with a subsidy; but not within the foreseeable future, given the level of traffic from Wichita.
I find it difficult to fly the re-badged ValuJet after the Florida crash. Perhaps I’m wrong, but they have done nothing to assure us that those problems are corrected. They are depending of the short attention span of the public, I guess.
That said, if they were to go away, you can bet that Delta, American, Continental, and the other carriers would raise fares instantly.
In the 5 years we’ve subsidized Airtran, ALL carrier’s east-bound departures have gotten cheaper. When you look at how may seats go east every year, that subsidy *per seat* isn’t terribly expensive.
Those who want it all to be free-market priced will be in a for a return to higher fares or less frequent departures. Unless Wichita were to start filling every available seat on every carrier, fares wouldn’t go down. Time and again I tell you all, it’s about the size of our MSA and the demographic profile of our residents. And the free market understand those concepts, really they do.
As for Mayans, I don’t care either way on this issue. As others pointed out, it’s a perceptual no-win situation and probably a cheap shot from the media. Finally, who gives a rat’s ass about this, for all the things to be fixed in Wichita?
LTB, spot on!
Instead of subsidizing one airline on one route we should have subsidized Air MidWest for a shuttle to KCI. Then, from KCI, we could get good fares everywhere.
How does subsidizing fares to Atlanta help people flying to the west coast?
Ben, IIRC, what you suggest is what Des Moine, Iowa did; arrange a twice-daily shuttle to KC or somewhere else, my recollection on the details is foggy. I’m unsure if “Air Des Moines” is still operating, but that’s how it attacked the problem.
About the shuttle to KCI: Ever since I moved here, I’ve been told that it’s cheaper to fly out of KC, BUT everytime that I’ve checked on flights they’ve been more expensive out of KC. Granted, this could be because of the specific places that I’m trying to fly, but if it isn’t then a shuttle isn’t going to do anything for Wichita.
I’m glad that Airtran is here, the prices the other airlines charge to go east is much less than it used to be with out Airtran.
Airfares going west could benefit from a low cost carrier. Just compare the prices to go west about the same distance as east and you will see that fares are 30 to 100% higher to go west.
I recently had a meeting in southern California. Although John Wayne (SNA) airport was closer, I flew into LAX to save $100, still the fare was $380. I was able to book a couple of months out. If I had booked with 21 days it would have been about $450 and 14 days was over $500, John Wayne was almost $700 for a 14 dayfare. From Kansas City, it was $220, Tulsa – $200 and El Paso, TX $220.
If Air Tran would be successful in the unsolicited tender offer for Midwest Airlines, there would already be west bound flights. While I’m not one to champion unsolicited buyouts, the possibility does exist. Midwest is, of course, opposing the transaction. I understand that flying that airline is quite pleasurable relative to the “norm”; wider seats, and the fresh, hot, chocolate chip cookies served the passengers.
“If Air Tran would be successful in the unsolicited tender offer for Midwest Airlines, there would already be west bound flights”.
True, but you would have to fly to either Atlanta or Milwaukee to get a westbound flight! I don’t think it will ever happen!
The Air Tran subsidy was a mistake and anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of economics should have known that it would be. When the subsidy allowed Air Tran to lower fares on a couple of eastbound routes, the other carriers were forced to match their prices, that is the part that was sold to taxpayers as the big benefit. The part that was left out was that the other carriers were going to increase fares on other routes, primarily anything headed west to make up the difference. Unless you are going to a destination serviced by Air Tran with a taxpayer funded subsidy, the cost of flying out of Wichita has actually increased. Fares to destinations like Phoenix, LA, San Fran, etc. are all way up since the Air Tran subsidy was approved. Wichita’s overall problem with expensive fares and a small number of flights is actually now worse for the majority of travelers.
AirTran is not even remotely related to Value Jet anymore. No senior or junior management remains and AirTran was in existence before VJ was aquired by it. I fly it often because it is a usually the low fare out of Atlanta to Chicago and Wichita.
Before AirTran I was living in Chicago Illinois. Cost to Wichita was $800 and up for a RT ticket. Cost to KCI was about $170 RT. So I fly to KCI and rent a car although I would have preferred a direct flight to ICT.
Maybe the mayor should stop campaigning on the fact that he brought us affordable airfares. The whole deal surrounds the concept that if more people take the flights the lower the subsidy we pay. does he care more about his mayor’s budget or the airtran budget? it doesn’t matter, it all comes out of my pocket either way.
I would like the Eagle to explain to me the economic reasoning behind their position. The best way to get lower fares in Wichita is to choose the flights that have the lowest fares. If we deliberately choose the higher-priced flights, the price on all flights will go up, because the airlines know you are not deciding based on price. That seems like common sense to me. Let’s reward whoever has the lowest prices for each flight by using that airline.
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