ARLINGTON, VA – ARC announced today that it has just released a study about the changes to airline capacity at airports serving smaller markets within the United States. The report looked at 411 airports with at least 2,500 annual passenger boardings, with no one airport accounting for more than 0.25 percent of the total annual US passenger boardings. The study examined the first quarter of 2013 vs. the same period in 2014.

Findings

During the periods researched, seat capacity increased by 6.8% for the small market airports as a whole. This growth was mainly driven by an average 12.3% increase in available seats at Small Hub Airports (the largest of the small market airports). Change in capacity was slightly up at Non-Hub Airports averaging 6.1%, while Non-Primary Airports saw an average drop of -5.4%.

General Conclusions (all airports in the small airport categories)

• Overall, there is a slight increase in the seats offered to small airports with an average increase of 6.8%, YOY 2013 to 2014.

• The gains are uneven, with the smallest airports being hit the hardest with capacity reductions.

• There is little change to the type of equipment being flown into these airports; the reduction in seat availability is almost entirely due to reductions in the number of flights and not changes to smaller aircraft.

• The distance to another, major airport does not play a major factor in the trends identified … while some airports (Dutch Harbor, Alaska) are a great distance (791 miles), Boeing Field is only five miles from Seattle-Tacoma airport, and we see no significant difference in the changes across airports based on proximity to a major alternative.