Travelers and airports feel the pain as airlines cut flights and shuffle routes

Fewer flights, rising fares at some big airports

ST. LOUIS — Air travel isn’t as quick and cheap as it used to be from some big-city airports.

Airlines scrambling to reverse their financial free-fall by dropping unprofitable routes has left travelers with fewer nonstop options and, sometimes, higher fares on remaining flights.

Blame the recession and airlines that added too many flights to too many places in better times.

In 2008, takeoffs and landings at 86 of 100 top U.S. airports declined an average 6 percent from the year before, according to the trade group Airports Council International-North America. As 2009 draws to a close, the cuts have continued. Overall flying has been reduced to levels not seen since after the 9/11 attacks.

“Being angry at the airlines is misplaced,” says US Airways president Scott Kirby. “You have to look at what happened.”

Here’s a look at the situation at three big airports where the changes, prompted by not enough passengers paying high enough fares to cover costs, have been dramatic.

—St. Louis.

In 2001, American Airlines offered more than 500 daily flights at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Next year, American will offer just 36 flights each day there. The number of passengers using the airport dropped to 14.4 million in 2008 from 28.7 million in 1998. American, which dropped St. Louis as a hub about two years ago, is shifting its attention to hubs in Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, New York and Miami, cities that fit its strategy of closer cooperation with foreign partner carriers. Lambert spent $1.1 billion to build a new runway that opened in 2006. Now the airport is stuck with $800 million in bond debt.

Bottom line for passengers: The average price of a St. Louis to Seattle roundtrip flight on Friday was $342, up from $278 a year earlier, according to FareCompare.com.

—Pittsburgh.

An $800 million terminal opened at Pittsburgh International Airport in 1992 when the airport was a US Airways hub. Millions of dollars more were spent to expand the terminal’s capacity, but US Airways dropped it as a hub in 2004 and has cut its departures there on the busiest travel days to 49 from roughly 550 before 9/11. It is shifting nearly all of its flying to its three remaining hubs and Washington. The number of passengers using the Pittsburgh airport dropped to 8.7 million in 2008 from 20.6 million in 1998.

Bottom line for passengers: A roundtrip Pittsburgh-to-Los Angeles flight cost, on average, $274 on Friday, up from $162 a year earlier, FareCompare.com says.

—Cincinnati.

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport opened a fourth runway in 2005 as part of a $250 million improvement project. By January, Delta Air Lines will have cut its daily departures there to 190, down from 480 in 2001. It will still be a Delta hub, but much smaller. The number of passengers using the Cincinnati airport dropped to 13.6 million in 2008 from 21.1 million in 1998.

Bottom line for passengers: The average price of a Cincinnati to Salt Lake City roundtrip flight was $420 on Friday, up from $318 a year earlier, FareCompare.com says.

Passengers may have to wait a while for things to get better.

“I think the history of the industry is usually to get it wrong every time,” says Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines’ executive vice president of strategy and planning. He thinks airlines will move more slowly this time before restoring capacity.

The five biggest U.S. carriers lost a combined $3.2 billion in the first nine months of 2009. Business fliers are airlines’ bread-and-butter. Until they come back in droves, airlines won’t bring back a lot of seats.

Discount carriers could make up some of the flights bigger carriers are ending. Southwest is adding new service in St. Louis that will increase the airline’s daily departures there to 79 next year. AirTran Airways added service from Pittsburgh to Florida destinations following US Airways reductions between those points.

“I’ll adapt,” says 56-year-old Scott Masters, who travels several times a year from the Cincinnati airport to Charleston, S.C., for pleasure and business. “I’m pretty resilient and I’ll find a way, but it was much nicer before.”

Associated Press Writer Lisa Cornwell contributed to this report from Cincinnati.