AirTran starts at Daytona Beach Airport
Thursday, November 26th, 2009_______________
Not that I am encouraging to use Daytona instead of Orlando, but here’s a nice trend… as a discounter moves in, prices go down. I found this in the Daytona Beach News-Journal. This one should probably get posted in the Atlanta Airport site.
AirTran will start daily flights to Atlanta on Jan. 11, and add daily flights to Atlanta and Baltimore on Feb. 15.
But will the discount carrier’s arrival reduce fares at the airport?
“It already has,” AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said. “We announced the service Oct. 13 and immediately the competitors lowered the fares, especially to Atlanta.”
AirTran’s figures show Delta Air Line’s seven-day advance purchase ticket to Atlanta will drop from $224 to $199 when AirTran begins flying out of Daytona Beach, matching AirTran’s fare. Delta’s three-day advance purchase tickets will drop from $349 to $259 and business fares from $754 to $324, matching AirTran’s fares.
“Our prices are a direct reflection of the competition that we see,” said Anthony Black, a Delta spokesman.
United Airlines, which flies to Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare, also has dropped its fares out of Daytona.
“The effect on airlines’ prices should be positive for the consumer,” said Donald Franchi, a travel agent with Atlas Travel of Daytona Beach. “Since AirTran flights feed their Atlanta hub, they will be competing directly with Delta. As a result, we are seeing some price reductions on the routes where the two airlines compete.”