News

Cadets, airport officials team to build-up passenger-base

  • Published
  • By Amber Baillie
  • Academy Spirit staff writer
U.S AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Academy cadets here are helping Colorado Springs officials improve passenger numbers at the Colorado Springs Airport.

Since Frontier Airlines ended flights from Colorado Springs just more than a year ago, the municipal airport has seen passenger levels drop precipitously. The problem, airport officials say, is that too many people are now bypassing the Springs' airport for Denver International Airport.

But, four cadets are working to fix the problem by focusing on Academy military travel. "We're in that battle ground -- the area from north Colorado Springs to Castle Rock that could go to either airport," said Cadet 1st Class Helen Jantscher. "We're finding ways to capture that traffic."

The senior capstone project started in the fall and is expected to wrap up this spring, said Lt. Col. Tim Pettit, the faculty adviser assisting cadets with the project.

"We're helping them decide which factors make military personnel pick DIA versus Colorado Springs," he said. "On the official travel side, the cost is an issue, but leisure travel is different."

The city has enlisted cadets to help with a number of projects in the past, Pettit said. They've worked with parks and recreation to find ways to efficiently mow city parks; they've created more efficient routes for trash trucks, saving both money and time.

The airport project is something a little different from those projects, cadets say. Some solutions - more flights from more airlines, for example -- are outside cadet control. But that doesn't mean they're short on solutions.

"We're examining the data," said Cadet 1st Class Hannah Peterson, one of the cadets working on the project. "And the airport could market itself a little better. They have a customer satisfaction program that gives free parking and discounts at the restaurants at the airport. Denver doesn't have that. We're just not sure how many people know about it."

And while there's a perception that Denver has cheaper flights; that's not necessarily true.

"The cost of the flight might be cheaper," said Cadet 1st Class Kassie Gurnell. "But the parking and gas - when you add that in it's not cheaper. I have a friend who flew from DIA for the (semester) break. Her parking fees when she got back were more than $150."

Other benefits, cadets say, are quicker access to parking, shorter check-in and security lines.

Airport officials have focused on the dwindling passenger lists for months. Alaska Airlines announced a flight to Seattle that started in November, and officials said last spring they were hoping for more announcements like that.

But cadets believe their year-long, senior capstone project will offer solutions to increase military traffic from the airport without making changes to the airport's flight schedule.

"People from Fort Carson, they tend to go to Colorado Springs," said Cadet 1st Class Anthony Riel. "But people from the Academy go to Denver. We think we can make a difference, just by having more people from the Academy use the Springs' airport. It's the little things that make a difference, we think."

Several factors are necessary for official government travel, and cadets admit that tighter budgets have an impact on commercial airline flights. Fewer military trips mean lower numbers at the airport.

"But cadets fly different places," said Peterson. "Families fly here too. So we think we can make a case for them using the Springs airport instead of Denver."
And airport officials agree.

"We're really excited about this," said Neil Ralston, interim assistant director for planning and development at the Colorado Springs Airport. "Military travel tends to be a little opaque when you're not on the military side of things. How to get them to come here - it's been a bit elusive."

The springs' airport is used heavily by Fort Carson soldiers, he said. But the airport wants to see more travel.

"We think the Academy numbers could make a real difference," he said. "And we want to know ways to get all the military - TDY (temporary duty) and leisure travels both. We want to be the military's airport of choice."

He believes the cadets are well on their way to delivering information that will make that possible.

"Because they are part of the military, they have access to data we don't," he said. "I think we'll finish this with some solid information we can put to good use." Cadet work and data access is authorized under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the Academy and the Airport."

Both Ralston and the cadets say the experience has been positive.

"They are great," Ralston said. "They're working hard - they jumped right in, rolled up their sleeves and are really digging into it."

For their part, cadets say it's interesting to have a problem to solve that isn't merely a textbook exercise.

"This has real-world implications," Peterson said. "So much of what we do is simulation or theory. But now we're working outside the Academy and we could actually make a real difference. It's exciting."