American Eagle airline traffic balloons despite relatively high ticket prices

DEXTER — On average, passengers booking flights out of Watertown International Airport, off Route 12F near Dexter, are paying $20 to $70 more per ticket to American Eagle Airlines to get to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago than they would to book the same flight out of Syracuse, airport Manager James L. Lawrence Jr. said.

But he said that hasn’t deterred them from booking a record number of flights out of the airport in December, when the airport saw 1,396 departures and 2,244 arrivals.

“The numbers were very good over Christmas vacation and the holidays, exceeding the airline’s expectations,” Mr. Lawrence said, adding that the airport draws passengers from across the north country and Canada.

Enplanement numbers at the airport boomed this fall when American Eagle replaced Cape Air and began to offer affordable flights to Chicago in November, he said. An annual subsidy of $3,047,972 from the federal Department of Transportation Essential Air Service enticed the carrier, owned by parent company American Airlines, to do business in the north country.

And if passenger traffic continues at its current rate, the airport will book more than 16,000 enplanements this year, Mr. Lawrence said, dwarfing the average of 4,000 it yielded by offering flights to Albany via Cape Air. If the airport garners more than 10,000 enplanements for three years in a row, its annual subsidy from the Federal Aviation Administration will be bumped from $150,000 to $1 million, he said.

Since American Airlines began offering flights to Chicago on Nov. 17, the airport has “seen over 2,000 passengers,” he said. “In two months we’ll reach the goal of what we had all year (in enplanements) with our previous airline.”

Originally, one-way flights from Watertown to O’Hare were advertised on the company’s website at $138, Mr. Lawrence said. But that low rate has fluctuated up to $149 since, he said, and is available in that price range only if tickets are purchased more than a month in advance. Emergency flights booked on short notice, by contrast, are typically more than $300 one way.

But while the cost for tickets is slightly more expensive at the airport than at Hancock International Airport, Syracuse, he said, most people are willing to foot the bill after weighing the pros and cons involved. After factoring in the gas expenses and time to make the trip to Syracuse, many people elect to depart from Watertown instead. The airline also offers special promotions for military personnel, he said, including free boarding and priority for first-class seating.

“Convenience is the big thing for soldiers at Fort Drum and residents here,” Mr. Lwrence said, “especially with our free parking and not having to drive through the snow-belt area between Watertown and Syracuse.”

But after searching on the American Airlines website, www.aa.com, flight-seekers may have a challenging time finding a ticket in the $150 range.

A search Monday found that the cheapest tickets in March were in the range of $172 to $202, and offered on only a handful of dates.

To that end, finding low-priced tickets on the Web was a frustrating experience for 69-year-old Barbara E. Hanson of Germantown Hills, Ill., who recently tried to find a flight from Chicago to Watertown to visit her ailing mother at a nursing home in Ogdensburg. She found that a one-way emergency flight from Chicago was more than $600, a super-saver flight was $432 and a flight with a 21-day prior purchase and three-day minimum stay was $360.

“I’ve been taking the train instead,” she said, “because it’s a whole lot better than what a round trip would cost. I thought the prices would be affordable, but most of the flights were over $400.”

Mr. Lawrence cautioned it’s important to book flights months ahead of time to track down the lowest-priced tickets.

“You have to do your due diligence and check the airlines,” he said. “Sometimes certain days are cheaper than others, and it’s best to look in between one and two months out.”

Tickets may be purchased from travel agents or through the American Airlines website.

Flights from Watertown leave at 7:10 a.m. for an 8:55 a.m. arrival at O’Hare, every day except Sunday, and at 5:05 p.m. for a 6:45 p.m. arrival at O’Hare, every day except Saturday. Flights from Chicago leave at 1:30 p.m. for a 4:25 p.m. arrival in Watertown, every day except Sunday, and at 6:30 p.m. for a 9:30 p.m. arrival, every day except Saturday.