Domestic Airfare Prices Jump 11%

AOL Travel News:

The average cost for domestic airfare increased nearly 11% in the last year, with New Jersey claiming airports with both the least expensive and most expensive airfare.

According to a new report released by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), flying out of Newark Liberty International Airport will cost you: the airport was ranked as the most expensive in the nation for the third quarter of last year, with an average cost of more than $468.

Read the whole story: AOL Travel News

Comments

[JP1493]

10:57 PM on 02/06/2011

It's way past time for another airport in Northern NJ. The least they could do is build up Stewart Airport in NY. Sometimes it's much more convenient to go to Stewart for a flight, when it's available, instead of Newark.

[FTAC 2001]

02:05 AM on 02/06/2011

who is flying to Flint, MI?

[jymfrancais]

12:16 PM on 02/06/2011

M. Moore.

[hardcenter]

03:18 PM on 02/05/2011

Its just too bad that there is such limited air service out of Atlantic City. Spirit and Air Tran are the only choices right now.

[FreeProgressLiberal]

12:10 PM on 02/06/2011

The problem with Atlantic City is it's location, with Philadelphia a stones throw away, a little over an hour there is no true demand for ACY outside of the small local metro traffic it attracts and the gamblers heading to the casinos on rock bottom airfares offered by the very small amount of airlines serving ACY.

Philadelphia is a robust Metro Area with true demand both for business and leisure, hence the much, much stronger base of flyers using PHL.

[larmarch5]

02:16 PM on 02/05/2011

Baton Rouge and New Orleans have to be in the top ten. Why?

[Drewry]

09:01 AM on 02/05/2011

That is a very nice looking airport to fly out of. Unfortunately, I'll never get to experience flying there.

http://www.DrewryNewsNetwork.com/twitter

http://www.DrewryNewsNetwork.com/travel

[EveAngel]

11:42 PM on 02/04/2011

The Dubai airport looks nice... unfortunately I can't ever visit since the males there will probably bound and gag me

[netzwerg]

03:40 AM on 02/05/2011

You are confusing the UAE with the US colony Afghanistan.

[mcmutter]

12:22 PM on 02/06/2011

inside every Afghani there is an Amerikan longing to be free ...

[SinisterK9]

02:13 PM on 02/05/2011

It is nice. And as mentioned, you are confusing the UAE with other countries.

[nogimmicks]

09:16 PM on 02/04/2011

That is why Bernanke tells us there is a deflation and they have to print another 0.6 Trillion dollars

[mcmutter]

12:23 PM on 02/06/2011

on the other hand .. he did keep you out of a depression ...

[TaxpayingVoter]

03:29 PM on 02/06/2011

Oh, THAT little thing. Yeah, well, no one will believe that because we avoided it. They only believe what they can actually SEE for themselves.

Had we actually gone into a depression, they'd see it. Not that Obama can win either way, poor guy.

[LeFlaneur]

09:00 PM on 02/04/2011

Crazy. Time was when I visited NYC I'd fly in and out of Newark becasue it was cheapest.

[valeskas]

10:05 AM on 02/06/2011

The worst airport in the USA is, Newark.

[FreeProgressLiberal]

12:11 PM on 02/06/2011

Based on personal non-experience?

[FreeProgressLiberal]

12:16 PM on 02/06/2011

It depends who you talk to in regards to Newark Airport. A good amount of the traffic that makes Newark the powerhouse that it is, is it's proximity to lower Manhattan combined with the industrial landscape of Northern New Jersey. The two combined are more than enough to have lured Singapore Airlines, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, and others to Newark over the years.

There are many, many people who are not and will not use JFK or LGA Airports. Those people chime in with the more than typical responses. JFK is too far out of reach from Manhattan, and LGA truly is a nightmare of an airport. Both JFK and LGA are not exactly the easiest airports to get to using public transportation either. Meanwhile Newark is a quick 25 minute train ride from Penn Station.

In reference to the "cheapest", that is more often than not brought by airlines without a meaningful presence at the Newark Airport, due to the dominance of Continental Airlines. More often than not Continental Airlines/Star Alliance affiliate airlines, bring in a very hefty premium for their flights to and from Newark. Of course this is not always the case as made evident from time to time when Continental/Star Alliance affiliates price match other airlines in the NYC/EWR market.

[mcmutter]

12:24 PM on 02/06/2011

two of the richest counties in the USA (Somerset and Morris) are just 30 minutes away ...

[HonkyTonkMan]

05:56 PM on 02/04/2011

Minneapolis is expensive. It's far from everything and there are no competing airports anywhere near it.

[FreeProgressLiberal]

12:21 PM on 02/06/2011

The is loosely the same problem with DFW, DTW, and ATL...

When airlines build a "fortress" hub, as with Delta/NWA at MSP, DTW, ATL it is hard for other airlines to make leeway and erode the fare premium. Time will only tell in ATL, where Air Tran has made a push to lower fares - fighting the monstrosity that is Delta, however nothing really will change until Southwest Airlines starts showing up on the side of Air Tran planes this coming year.

MSP truly is at the mercy of Delta Air Lines, who many question does/does not have a viable long-term strategy for the airport. Just the other day, a rumor started flying around that Lufthansa and British Airways might be approached by the airport to lure additional international traffic. It is all a guessing game at this point. One has to wonder how long Sun Country can hang on in the market, because once they go Delta Air Lines will be the monopoly at the airport, and fares will only further increase.

[Tom Farmer]

01:06 PM on 02/06/2011

MSP is a great airport and used to be a terrific connecting point in the NW days. Now that DL has taken over, MSP through no fault of its own will likely be a victim of merger dynamics. The combined DL/NW airline has 7 domestic hubs: SLC, DTW, MSP, MEM, CVG, ATL and JFK (with SEA coming up fast as an Asia gateway). That is three or four more hubs than an airline really needs. MEM and CVG are already being slowly stripped of DL service and I expect MSP will be next, as Salt Lake is a better-positioned western hub for the DL network. Already when you hit the DL online booking engine looking for transcon flights, almost all the suggested itineraries force you through ATL -- a terrible connecting airport prone to weather and ATC delays.

I think Sun Country will have a lot more opportunityn out of MSP if they can just hang on until the DL drawdown. Of course, people who live around Minneapolis will not like the reduced flight options, but they'll be cheaper. Hub captives always pay higher fares, and they complain no matter what happens. Residents around CVG complained for years about high DL fares for all those nonstops DL operated, and would drive to Dayton or Columbus to start their journeys, getting cheaper fares. Now that DL is stripping service out of CVG (because it's redundant with nearby DTW, acquired in the NW merger), Cincinnati residents are complaining about that too.

[wernerholm]

04:45 PM on 02/04/2011

Newark is one of two commericial airports in NJ... Atlantic city- served by Spirit, and Air Tran.... by far the cheapest way depart the Garden State

[FreeProgressLiberal]

12:23 PM on 02/06/2011

Trenton, used to have commercial service, which ended a few years ago...

[MajorKong]

02:03 PM on 02/04/2011

Well, it may be expensive but at least it's a really crappy airport.

[orange county man]

10:22 AM on 02/05/2011

But very convenient for getting to Lower Manhattan. As such, I adore the place.

[FreeProgressLiberal]

12:24 PM on 02/06/2011

It is a crappy airport???

Terminal B, C, are great terminals when you compare them to the dungeon like terminals at LGA. More so try comparing them to Terminals 2/3 (Delta Air Lines), at JFK Airport.

[Banjoplayer]

01:34 PM on 02/04/2011

Remember Peoples Express? The days when flying out of Newark was cheap.

[jpeters100]

12:33 PM on 02/05/2011

I used PE all the time. Bought your ticket on the plane. Those were the days.

[CDRUSNret]

01:17 PM on 02/04/2011

That's just the market forces at work....more people want to fly OUT of Newark than want to fly IN!
(sarcasm folks)