Planning your spring break travel? Got sticker shock at the airfares? Wonder what’s going on with our own Cherry Capital Airport and its new air traffic control tower? We asked Tom Rockne, a 37-year travel industry veteran who spent two decades at Northwest Airlines, ran Passageways Travel, and now provides consulting services to airports (including Cherry Capital). We caught up with him at TVC Airport.

Let’s get right to the point. Why are fares from Traverse City so high?
ROCKNE: They’re actually not high, given our volume of service. Keep in mind when you’re comparing Grand Rapids, they have at least five times the population, so if airlines allocate low price seats on the same percentage as they do Grand Rapids, we will have significantly fewer seats and they will sellout before theirs. So a simple fare search is not ‘apples to apples.’

Also, a significant change was made a year ago, when we worked with Delta and they decided not to base their fares on a differential versus Detroit but rather how they compared to Grand Rapids. So depending on dates, destinations, available low fare seats and other factors, our fares will be roughly within $20-$30 round trip of Grand Rapids, or close enough that would make it nonsensical to drive there to fly.

Meanwhile in the bigger picture, the industry is managing their inventory to keep supply modest to push up prices. They want to just barely meet the demand.

One of the messages we keep hearing is that we should be thankful for what we have, right?
ROCKNE: Absolutely. Let me advise that I don't see another point in the nation that has more and better air service for its size than Traverse City. We have the world's three largest carriers, each a member of one of the three major worldwide alliances, non-stop service to a minimum of two hubs...and up to six non-stop cities in the summer. You can be virtually anywhere on the planet in just over 24 hours.

The most common comment we hear around the community is, “Why don’t we just lure Southwest or Allegiant to come here?” Thoughts?
ROCKNE: Small and medium airports are competing everywhere and looming is the retirement of smaller, 50-seat regional jets, which will be replaced by 70 or 100 seat aircraft…small/medium airports cannot support those. Regionalization is coming, meaning if you look at northern Michigan, for example, does an airline really need to serve four or five airports within the region, or just one? We are going to have significantly fewer airports in five to ten years, which would be good news for Traverse City.

So then there’s the option of ‘Pay to Play.’ Both Lansing and Flint airports enjoy a millage delivering local tax dollars to the airport administration. Those dollars can be used by the airport's administration for any purpose [like] a ‘guarantee’ to entice seasonal and regional carriers to bring service to their facilities. In Grand Rapids, a private group has embraced the idea of this shifting paradigm and formed the West Michigan Air Alliance. Operating outside of airport management, they summoned business leaders to contribute to a fund to solicit ‘low cost’ carriers to the market anticipating that the legacy carriers would have to lower fares to compete. They have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars with no end in sight. Interestingly, statistics show Grand Rapids boardings down each month this year, while TVC is up.

What about the new Airport tower and runway lights? What’s the deal with those investments?
ROCKNE: That's an FAA mandate. It has nothing to do with fares; the dollars that build new towers and air service support are captured in federal air taxes. The users of the system pay for the system.

Any quick tips to help us find lower airfares?
ROCKNE: Always check the fares and schedules from TVC; don't assume it's less costly elsewhere. Remember to fully compute the cost of driving to fly...and potential weather delays. If you're planning travel for business, make sure you are aware of the small business programs of the various carriers and how they can work for you.