Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Boardings up 3% at airport
Y2K fear blamed for December dip
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HEBRON — The Y2K scare apparently cut into December travel figures at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, but overall enplanement figures were still up 3 percent for the year.
Figures released at the Kenton County Airport Board meeting Monday showed that passenger enplanement for December was off 3.7 percent compared to 1998. Aircraft departures were up for the month, however, with 577 compared with 543 for the same period a year ago.
Director of Aviation Robert Holscher said there were cancellations that he thinks were because of rumors about Y2K computer problems. “I think it's safe to assume that a number of people chose not to travel in December for that reason,” he said.
Delta Air Lines, the airport's No.1 carrier, was off 7.7 percent on domestic boardings in December and 12.1 percent on international flights.
Comair did not share in Delta's drop in enplanements in December but showed an increase of just 0.7 percent on domestic flights compared to 1998. Comair international flights, however, were up 26.2 percent.
For all of 1999, the airport had 10,876,756 enplanements, which when doubled for deplanement of passengers means the airport had more than 21.7 million passengers through its terminals for the year.
Deputy Aviation Director Dale Huber, who is in charge of the airport's noise reduction effort, told board members that a recent check of permanent noise monitoring equipment in Delhi Township demonstrated how new aircraft have significantly reduced takeoff and landing noise.
“Because of certain conditions, 52 Comair regional jets were northbound from the airport recently,” he said. “But none of them registered on our detection equipment, although they were recorded on radar.
“We asked Hamilton County to check its detection equipment and give us the (noise level) readings on the jets, but there was no record of the planes on that equipment either.”
He said the newer Comair regional jets are FAA Phase III noise compliant from the factory, while older aircraft must be retrofitted with silencing equipment to meet required Phase III noise regulations.
“Actually, if there was a Phase IV from the FAA for noise levels, the Comair jets would already meet it,” Mr. Huber said.
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