Passenger traffic up 10% at Mitchell

Mexico service, spring break cited

Passenger traffic at Milwaukee County’s Mitchell International Airport was up by more than 10% in April compared with the same month a year ago, numbers released Wednesday show.

April passenger traffic was 615,706, an increase of 10.2% from the 558,643 passengers recorded in April 2016, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said in a statement.

“International traffic was up due to our new Volaris service to Guadalajara, Mexico, and an extended spring break travel season, which was longer due to Easter occurring in April this year,” Abele said in the statement.

Volaris began its Milwaukee-Guadalajara route in March with two round-trip flights per week.

“From March to May, Volaris has transported more than 5,600 passengers with a monthly growth rate of around 9%,” a spokesman for the airline said in an email.

Increased flights to Mexico and the Caribbean, flown by Norwegian Air in partnership with Milwaukee-based FunJet Vacations and Apple Vacations, also helped propel the higher passenger numbers.

Total passenger traffic at Mitchell is up 2.7% from the first four months of 2016. International traffic is 18% higher.

Another reason for the spike in air travel is that airfares have remained relatively affordable.

And, despite recent news stories to the contrary, airlines have worked to improve their customer service.

“Improvement in industry performance in all of (the) areas in the ratings is a positive sign for consumers and airlines alike,” according to the annual Airline Quality Rating study released in April by researchers at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

“The 20% decrease in the rate of consumer complaints in 2016 suggests that improved performance in important areas to consumers has been noticed,” according to the study.

Look for fares to continue to remain relatively low after global oil prices tumbled again on Wednesday.

The price for a gallon of jet fuel at the beginning of this week was hovering around $1.30. In 2008, as the U.S. was heading into a deep recession, the price per gallon was about $4.20.

Fuel is among an airline’s biggest costs.