Not sure Austin Blackburn gets his facts about Charleston, SC not having high fares.
"Unlike Charleston, Knoxville has high fares, and unlike Greenville/Spartanburg, Knoxville generates more traffic, and focuses that traffic cities that have large Southwest Airlines operations." Austin Blackburn, posting on this blog on 5/20/10
Here's the latest report from RITA
http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/2010/bts036_10/html/bts036_10.html
Charleston, SC had the highest percentage increase in fares thanks to Delta and USAirways raising fares after Airtran left town. Charleston's average airfare for the first quarter 2010 was the second highest in the nation, with Knoxville at #3. I can't find the list of total passengers by airports, but I believe Charleston served 2.2 million folks in 2009.
I think the number of passengers will certainly increase in 2011, but also believe a lot of passengers will be choosing SWA over Delta and USAirways to avoid Atlanta and CLT, especially if they can save money. Charleston will serve more people who either fly out of MYR or drive, but their will be a lot of folks simply picking SWA over Delta. I expect GSP traffic to dramatically increase, since they have mostly RJs.
v/r
Greg
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