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AIR PORT SURVEY

A report on The Argus Foundation survey of business travel–needs and concerns as relate to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport

Executive Summary

The Argus Foundation, a non-profit non-partisan public policy organization has become concerned with the under-utilization of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. Though population trends are up, airline loss and reduced number of flights in and out of our local air terminal have caused many of our members and their employees to use other airports. After discussion with staff of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and executives of major air carriers, it was felt that more information was needed about the business traveler in order to successfully describe the market potential of Sarasota and Manatee counties. Though narrowly defined by numbers of businesses, Argus members represent 53 different business categories, employ over 10,000, and have combined gross revenues in excess of $2.75 billion. Current membership is 175 companies, 84 of whom completed and returned surveys.

Though it is not statistically valid to extrapolate and project from the data gathered in our survey, our results do show that there are a substantial number of business travelers who are using airline terminals outside of the Sarasota-Bradenton market in order to fulfill their travel needs. Considering that it is estimated that 20 percent of the current utilization of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport is by the business traveler, and about half of those surveyed are using other airports, it would stand to reason that if local businesses were offered greater flight selection at reasonable prices, overall air traffic at Sarasota-Bradenton would increase by a minimum of 10 percent annually, approximating upwards of 150,000 additional traffic movements.

Similarly, it would be reasonable to conclude that the non-business traveler could also be drawn back to local airport usage. In that about 30 percent of the local resident population is over 65 years of age, with a majority on fixed incomes, competitive fares with Tampa/St. Petersburg coupled with the convenience of parking and airside proximity, make the Sarasota-Bradenton terminal a logical preferred choice.

If this survey does nothing more, it confirms the belief that there is a far greater air travel market in the Sarasota-Manatee county region than is evidenced by the current traffic at the local airport.

Survey Results

Eighty-four respondent companies reported the following results:

• Total number of trips for annual company travel is 13,836. Air travel budgets for all respondents totaled $10.7 million. Twenty-three companies had in excess of 50 trips per year.
  
  
• Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport was used 53 percent of the time while 42 percent of business travelers used Tampa International.
  
  
• The reason chosen most often for using another airport other than Sarasota-Bradenton was first, "cheaper airfares" followed by "flight selection being more convenient" and "non-stop flight availability."
  
  
• When traveling to airports other than Sarasota-Bradenton, over 90 percent of respondents use their private vehicle.
  
  
• Top three domestic destinations of business travelers were New York (3,002 trips), Chicago (954 trips) and Atlanta (865 trips). Those same three cities brought the most business visitors to our area–New York (708 trips), Chicago (514 trips) and Atlanta (367 trips). No one international destination accounted for more than 74 trips per year.
• Full-fare coach, business and first class travel accounted for 62.5 percent of all trips.
  
  
• The major reason given by those surveyed for not using Sarasota-Bradenton International airport was that airfares were not competitive with flights originating at Tampa International. Most (75%) indicated that they would be willing to pay somewhat more for the convenience of flying out of Sarasota-Bradenton. One respondent pointed out that the limousine fare to Tampa was in the $41-50 range, and that an additional $100 for round-trip air fare from Sarasota to out-of-state destinations would be justified as an offset.
  
  
• The majority of respondents (97%) would use Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport if there were improved service to their major destination cities.
  
  
• Delta was the most frequently used carrier (57 named it as their most frequent carrier), followed by U.S. Air and Continental.
  
  
• Of the discount carriers not currently operating out of Sarasota-Bradenton, many would use Valujet (46%) if they were to start service locally.
  
  
• Ninety-five percent would promote the use of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport for new airlines and new service with their employees and vendors, while 64 percent would join with The Argus Foundation to promote the same to the community at large.