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Three months after the first Cape Air flight took off from Lancaster Airport, the airline's passenger counts here keep gaining altitude.
"It's definitely building every month. Obviously, that's what we want to see — an upward trend," said airport official Joyce Opp.
"In some cities (where Cape Air has initiated service), it's taken a year to get to where we are already," she added.
Cape Air's service to and from Baltimore-Washington International has carried more than 2,100 passengers to date.
Opp, finance and marketing director for the Lancaster Airport Authority, said Tuesday that the popularity of the service is rooted in several factors.
"We have a great price and a great schedule, and we connect you to all the major airlines, not just one (as was the case with predecessor USAirways Express, which flew to Pittsburgh).
"We think it's the winning combination," said Opp.
Cape Air also is delighted with the public's response to the new service, which offers five roundtrips a day, seven days a week, said spokeswoman Michelle Haynes.
"We're thrilled with the Lancaster numbers," said Haynes, noting that the airline and the authority have had to "re-educate" the public about the availability and advantages of local commercial service.
Lancaster Airport had lost its commercial service in September 2007, when a federal subsidy for USAirways Express to provide service here expired.
Airport officials and legislators, working relentlessly for months, eventually got the subsidy restored.
That, in turn, attracted Cape Air. Cape Air started flying to and from here March 24, ending an 18-month hiatus in local commercial service.
Cape Air carried 96 passengers (calculated as all arrivals plus all departures) here during the final eight days in March. In April, Cape Air had 520 local passengers. In May, it had 760.
So far in June, through Monday, Cape Air had 729. If current passenger counts are maintained for the rest of the month, the June tally will exceed May's total by several hundred.
Opp estimated that 65 percent of Cape Air passengers here are business travelers, especially from Manheim Auto Auction, Armstrong World Industries and Wilbur Chocolate owner Cargill.
Another substantial portion of the travelers on the nine-passenger Cape Air Cessna 402 twin-engine planes are senior citizens, she said.
Haynes and Opp said the new service has been well received because it's affordable, dependable and convenient.
Flights cost $50 one way and parking at Lancaster Airport is free, Opp noted. All of Cape Air's flights here have been on time. Flights are available throughout the day.
Passengers are "overwhelmingly excited," said Opp. "They're so happy that they don't have to drive down there and don't have to pay to park. ...
"With five flights a day, they can get out at a reasonable time and can get back at a reasonable time. If they miss a flight, they don't have to worry (because service is so frequent)," she added.
Although the public response to the new service has been strong, Haynes thinks ticket sales can improve.
Even with the steady increase in ticket sales, Cape Air still is filling only 32 percent of the seats on its Lancaster flights so far this month, said Opp. The airline wants to be filling 55 percent by next March.
"We believe there's room for growth and we're going after it," said Haynes, adding that Cape Air is planning several marketing initiatives this summer.
The challenge, Haynes said, is to change people's travel habits.
Lancaster Airport hasn't offered flights to BWI since 1992, according to New Era files, when USAirways ended a three-year run of service.
During the subsequent years, "people got in the habit of driving to BWI. We need to make people aware that there's now a great alternative," she said.
Cape Air someday might offer other alternatives as well, Opp and Haynes indicated, if the passenger counts continue to climb.
"Hopefully, by the end of the year, there will be enough passengers to justify adding flights and/or destinations," said Opp. "It's all up to the public. If they use it, the service will increase."
Staff writer Tim Mekeel can be reached at tmekeel@LNPnews.com or 481-6030.
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