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Victoria airport may change schedule in effort to drive up usage

Jason Milewski, airport manager, discusses potential schedule changes and how he needs people to voice their input so they know what sort of schedules people want to see.
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  • Allison Miles •
  • Originally published November 15, 2011 at 6 p.m., updated November 15, 2011 at 10:55 p.m.

  • Immediate change

  • Beginning Dec. 17, the Victoria Regional Airport's 6 a.m. departure moves to 5:35 a.m., said airport manager Jason Milewski. The change was made by the airline, he said, not the airport.

  • any thoughts?

  • Want to voice your opinion about the Victoria Regional Airport's flight schedule? Call 361-578-2704 or email airport@vctx.org.

Commercial flight times for Victoria Regional Airport may change.

Airport Manager Jason Milewski spoke Tuesday about the possible schedule shift to a packed house at the Victoria Economic Development Corp's Victoria Partnership meeting.

Airport management is considering replacing the early-morning flight and 10 p.m. arrival in exchange for a schedule that better suits businesspeople visiting Victoria, Milewski said.

The proposed schedule would include a 10 a.m. arrival and 10:30 a.m. departure. The airport would continue to have a 4:20 p.m. arrival and 4:45 p.m. departure.

The change is being considered because the number of people flying continues to decrease, he said.

Victoria is the last Texas airport to remain part of the Essential Air Service program, a federal subsidy that goes to airlines that serve small communities, Milewski said. The airline cannot rely on the subsidy forever, he said, noting those funds might soon run be cut.

He urged residents to contact the airport regarding their schedule preferences. Even if the proposed schedules don't pan out, he said, the airport can revert back to its current flights.

The airport once included a schedule similar to the proposed one, Milewski said, noting it lost about 200 passengers a month when the third daily flight was taken away.

Enplanements recently picked up by about 60 people per month after a recent fare decrease, he said, which makes a difference for an airport that sees an average 300 to 500 enplanements a month.

The airport suffers from a 95 percent leakage rate, he added, explaining that most of those flying in and out of the Crossroads use other airports.

Something must be done, Milewski said.

"We cannot continue to offer the same thing, unchanged, and hope people are going to start flying again," he said. "It's not going to happen."

Janice Scott, a Victoria lawyer who attended the meeting, admitted the proposed plan was a shift in focus, but said she applauded the airport for being proactive.

Scott said she believed the airport would receive criticism from current passengers, but said she hoped to see management stand its ground and continue forward with plans it believes will help down the road.

Airline schedules remain an issue, said Randy Vivian, president and CEO of the Victoria Chamber of Commerce.

He said he works with many business travelers making their way to and from the region, and the proposed schedules would help them make their way in and out in one day. Vivian said he was glad to see the airport working to find solutions before the subsidy ran out.

"If not, we could lose air service in Victoria," he said. "We don't want that."




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Comments

  • JLordtree JLordtree Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    Or instead of lake charles...new orleans

    November 17, 2011 at 12:27 a.m.
  • d6975 d6975 Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    I use VCT airport. Yes, there are layovers sometime. It's just part of flying. It's a little more pricy, but figure your gas, going to eat, and shopping. Much cheaper out of Victoria. And yes, this airport would stay busy with round trip flights to Lake Charles. I probably would use it once a month myself.

    November 16, 2011 at 8:37 p.m.
  • receey receey Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    Lower the fare. My family flys to Florida at least 5 times a year. It's cheaper to drive to Austin or Houston and drop off or pick up. Great excuse to eat out and shop in the bigger city for the day, but if the fare was more reasonable...I would fly them out of here.

    November 16, 2011 at 4:30 p.m.
  • JLordtree JLordtree Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    Personally I always thought flights to Houston were stupid. I also bypass VCT because long layovers where my time was less wasted by driving to IAH or HOU. Now if it had flights to connect out of a different hub like DFW...different story

    November 16, 2011 at 11:45 a.m.
  • vox vox Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    I can fix the airport problem very easily:

    Offer a flight to Lake Charles, LA. You can't tell me those flights wouldn't be booked solid.

    November 16, 2011 at 10:24 a.m.
  • loudandclear loudandclear Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    A 10:30 am flight is pointless unless it's run in addition to the current flight schedule. The 6:00 am flight is just way too convenient to do away with. It's great for day trips.

    November 16, 2011 at 9:56 a.m.
  • Zero Zero Report a ViolationReport a Violation Permalink  | 

    Kudos for exploring options to losing air service completely.

    HOWEVER, the 10 pm arrival means the aircraft overnights in Victoria, with lodging, meals and transportation for a crew of three. It also means that the 6 am flight has probably the highest on time percentage of any Colgan flights in TX. This means that you can make a connection in Houston to take you anywhere the same day. Leaving at 10:30 am gives you far fewer options.

    The reasons people give me for avoiding the VCT-IAH flight is NOT the cost, NOT the lack of connections, NOT the time of the flight, but rather the fact that they miss continental or international connections because of departure delays. If the inbound morning aircraft is late because it is late leaving on its first or second trip of the day then you have FAR FEWER options to connect.

    Unless UA/Colgan can promise that the 10:30 am flight will have the same on time rate as the 6 am (and sometimes 7 am) scheduled flight, then this experiment will be an unmitigated disaster. It will be painful to watch the airport make the mistake of changing the flights, losing passenger loyalty because of missed connections in IAH and then "just switching back" only to find that airline passengers do not return to a service quickly or easily -- a lesson we've learned once already.

    I hope the airport is doing more than testing the waters at VEDC before jumping and has some solid data about whether it is incoming or outgoing passengers that drive passengers. It sure wasn't presented in this story.

    November 15, 2011 at 6:36 p.m.