Columbia airport adding routes

Additional daily flights going to Dallas, D.C.

By NOELLE PHILLIPS - nophillips@thestate.com

COLUMBIA METRO

In a time when most airports are losing flights because of the struggling airline industry, Columbia Metropolitan Airport is gaining routes.

US Airways, the airport’s dominant carrier, announced Monday it was adding a fourth daily flight to Washington’s National Airport, said Mike Flack, the airport’s executive director. The route is profitable for the airline, he said.

And American Airlines last week added a fourth daily flight to Dallas, he said.

“The airlines, these days when they see an opportunity, they go after it,” Flack said. “They cut flights for the same reason. If it’s losing money, they cut it in a heartbeat.”

Add those two additional routes to Spirit Air’s arrival in late May, and Columbia Metro is holding its own during a tough time for the industry, Flack said.

This summer, major air carriers have announced they were cutting routes across the country as they continue to take financial hits from soaring fuel costs.

US Airways was among the airlines making cuts when it announced earlier this summer it would trim 8 percent of its routes. Continental was another major carrier that recently announced it would slash flights.

As a result, airports in Charlotte and Myrtle Beach found out they would lose service.

This fall, Myrtle Beach will no longer have direct flights to Washington and Chicago once United Airlines cuts its service between those cities. United says it will re-establish those routes in March when the tourist season cranks up again.

In Charlotte, United, Air Tran, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines all said they plan to reduce flights to the city.

So far, Columbia is surviving the cutbacks.

No airline has announced cuts since Delta said in March it would trim service at Columbia Metro, Flack said. Delta has the second largest number of flights into Columbia.

Reach Phillips at (803) 771-8307. The Myrtle Beach Sun News and Charlotte Observer contributed.