N.Y. Airports Offer A Variety Of Low-Cost Choices
<H1>N.Y. Airports Offer A Variety Of Low-Cost Choices</H1>by Robert Selwitz
<I>New York </I>- Although many large companies avoid sending their travelers on low-cost airlines, the fact remains that the metropolitan area's three major airports-and some of the suburban county airports-offer a surprisingly broad selection of discount carriers for business travelers.
Unlike most of the rest of the country, New York business travelers can find an inexpensive and convenient alternative to get to the destination of their choice.
According to Tom deNardin, vice president of sales and marketing for Western Pacific-which flies to 23 destinations out of Newark-"there's a huge difference between conventional airlines and us. And since this is a time when a company's most precious asset is its cash, we expect to see a rising share of business traffic out of New York."
WP is the only low-fare coast-to-coast carrier operating out of the New York metropolitan area, deNardin said. "Therefore, our one-stop service [via the Colorado Springs hub] lets us offer good service at low costs," deNardin said.
Like many of its competitors, WP features one-way fares with no Saturday night layovers. Twenty-one day advance tariffs from Newark to Los Angeles cost $160 each way, while the walk-up fares are $309. It's with the latter that deNardin sees his airline's advantage in the business travel market. "While the majors can come close to us on advance purchases that involve Saturday night stayovers, they can't compete against our unrestricted fares."
Kiwi spokesman Rob Kulat, meanwhile, said his company research indicates that more than 40 percent of its passengers are flying on business, a total that's on the rise.
"Kiwi's normal walk-up-24 hours or less-one-way fare from Newark to Chicago is $209," he said. "That matches the $411 offered by American, Continental or United." These one-way costs are particularly valuable, he said, when trips involve more than two destinations.
Kulat also contends that Kiwi's in-flight service supersedes what is offered by the majors in economy class. Also, its New York route includes such critical destinations as Atlanta and Chicago.
The airline also is targeting New York-based corporates with its Sept. 16 introduction of KLUB, Kiwi's Loyal Users Bonus club: Members get one flight free for every nine purchased. Typical of "Klub" prices are $1,101 for 10 trips between Newark and Chicago. Anyone can use the coupons because they aren't issued in a single passenger's name. That means, Kulat said, "a whole office could buy a book and fly together to a trade show at the reduced, cumulative price."
Despite the large selection of smaller discount carriers here, travel managers at large corporations in the New York area are staying with the majors.
"After the ValuJet crash, we only book low-cost carriers for those people demanding to fly them. Otherwise, we book conventional airlines," said Jo Markovich, on-site coordinator for American Express at Amerada Hess Corp. in Woodbridge, N.J.
"We don't have a specific policy against using cheaper airlines, but on the whole we don't book them," said Cyndi Perper, director of corporate travel services for Colgate-Palmolive in New York. Her reasons include preferred supplier contracts, scheduling, choice of airports, the inability to switch airlines during cancellations and the quantity of flights provided by the majors on arteries such as New York-Chicago.
However, the choice in discount carriers plus their efforts to target corporate buyers could be an attractive option for smaller companies.
Said Air South co-founder and chief marketing officer Tom Volz, "Our key is having some of the added features in place, features that frequently appeal to small emerging growth companies where the executives are writing their own transportation checks."
Air South also features a frequent flyer program in which eight round trips or 16 individual flights earn a free round trip. More importantly, Volz said, Air South has interline agreements with majors such as USAir.
Bargain fares, however, are the prime draw at Air South, which links John F. Kennedy Airport with Norfolk, Va., Charleston and Savannah. Fares can dip as low as $59 for off-peak one-ways between JFK and Charleston. However, a better comparison, said Volz, is "our non-refundable off-peak, Monday-to-Thursday fare of $119, or peak fare of $139. The latter price is half of Delta's."
Midway, another airline with a narrow geographic niche, offers service to its Raleigh, N.C., hub out of three airports: Newark, LaGuardia and Stewart in Newburgh, N.Y. "Since we are the largest carrier between the New York area and Raleigh, we've seen our volume of business traffic rise," said senior vice president of marketing Joanne Smith. The airline also offers American Airlines AAdvantage miles.
And while Carnival Airlines acknowledges it is primarily a leisure carrier, it still offers several lures for corporate travelers.
"We are the only airline offering service to Florida out of five New York metropolitan airports," said spokesman Gabriel Gabor. That means Stewart and LaGuardia as of Dec. 19, plus Islip Airport on Long Island, Newark and JFK. "For executives living in Suffolk, Westchester or Orange counties, that choice can be a real convenience," Gabor said.
Carnival flies out of New York to Orlando, Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and seasonally to San Juan, Ponce and Aquadir in Puerto Rico and Nassau in the Bahamas.
On the roster of low-cost carriers that won't be offering New York service anytime soon are Southwest and ValuJet. The closest Southwest comes to this region are Providence, R. I., and Baltimore. A spokesman said that situation is not likely to change anytime soon.
Meanwhile, beleaguered ValuJet has given back its LaGuardia slots to Continental. Although it plans to resume service this month, vice president of sales and marketing Ponder Harrison explained, "we would have had to retain our lease on those slots for an extended period without service. Therefore, we thought it best to return them and not incur the costs.