[ CONSOLIDATION TAKING TOLL ]
Small airports
seeing big cuts
in connectivity
See AIRPORTS on Page 38
By Robert Silk
LAS VEGAS — Concern about
reductions in air service to many
midsize- and small-market U.S.
airports emerged as a major theme
at the Routes Americas conference
here earlier this month, where delegates from 100 airlines and 260 airports gathered to explore potential
new flight offerings.
“We’ve got to find a way to solve that
problem,” Erik Hansen, vice president of
government relations for the U.S. Travel Association, said on a panel at the conference.
According to U.S. Travel, 60% of U.S.
airports have lost connectivity over the last
decade. In addition, two-thirds of U.S. states
have seen a decline in air service quality and
convenience since 2007, meaning they are
seeing fewer flights and routes.
The reductions have come as consolidation has reduced the number of major U.S.
airlines from 11 to four since 2004. As they
consolidated, airlines concentrated their operations at fewer hubs, leaving former hub
cities such as Memphis, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., with empty
gates.
Meanwhile, the pilot shortage plaguing
Hotels finding fitness areas get scant use
See WORKOUT on Page 40
By Danny King
New research shows that while hotels continue to invest money in fitness space and
equipment, fewer guests are spending the
time to use it.
According to a study on hotel-amenity us-
age published by the Cornell Center for Hos-
pitality Research earlier this month, while
almost half of U.S. travelers visit hotels with
the expectation of using on-site gym equip-
ment, just 22% end up doing so.
What’s more, it seems that the wealthier
the guest, the less likely he or she is to go to
the hotel gym; fewer than 40% of the people
who said they would use a luxury hotel’s
fitness center actually made good on those
plans.
The study cited data from 33 hotels across
six brands that are part of an unidentified
“global company that operates midscale, up-
scale and luxury brands.”
“When people budget their time when
they travel, the fitness center tends to be
one of the first activities to go,” said Cheki-
tan Dev, associate professor at Cornell’s SC
Johnson College of Business and one of the
report’s authors. He added that as the overall
quality of fitness equipment rises, “now, fa-
cilities in the home are nicer, and hotels are
playing catch-up.”
As a result, when it comes to capital
‘I don’t think the answer is root-
ed in regulation. Airlines will fly
where they will make money.’
— John Slattery, Embraer CEO
Kurt Weinsheimer
Sojern’s data suggests that bookings for spring
break are off to a decent start for 2017. 12
IN OTHER NEWS
With new ship orders, Norwegian goes smaller, Carnival goes to China 6
San Diego’s carbon offset program is set to spread to other U.S. airports 8
Richard Turen
This week, I’m playing catch-up on interest-
ing travel stories the media missed. 37
THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY’S TRUSTED VOICE
WWW.TRAVELWEEKLY.COM FEBRUARY 27, 2017
IN THE HOT SEAT VIDEO: MICHELLE BARAN ON CROISIEUROPE’S PADDLEWHEELERS MARK PESTRONK
Marcus Samuelsson on competing with other
celebrity chefs at MGM National Harbor. 4
On Fox Business News’ ‘Innovations With Ed
Begley Jr.’ our river cruise editor discusses
a design that lets vessels ply shallow streams.
www.travelweekly.com/innovations-video
Dealing with Southwest when someone has
fraudulently booked with your ARC number. 26
FOCUS ON
CULINARY TRAVEL
The emerging generation of travelers considers food to be an important part of the experience.
Our writers look at how various tour sellers, suppliers and even countries are responding.
BY THE TRAVEL WEEKLY STAFF PAGE 16
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