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TIA Balance Can Be Asset During Mergers

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By TED JACKOVICS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

TAMPA - When it comes to airline mergers, leisure and business travelers both have much at stake: the prospects of fewer flights, higher fares, even the loss of destinations.

However, passengers using Tampa International Airport appear to be better off than others should an airline merger take place.

That's true in part because Tampa is not a hub airport, which carriers use as a central point for changing flights to various destinations, airport director Louis Miller said Wednesday.

"We are an origin and destination market, with point-to-point flights, so we don't have to worry as much," Miller said.

What's more, Tampa International has recruited a balance of legacy carriers - six major airlines whose histories predate the 1980s - and low-cost airlines.

That leaves Tampa's schedules less vulnerable to upheaval than what might occur at a hub airport or others with less airline competition.

None of Tampa's nonstop routes have duplicate service by the two most recent merger prospects, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.

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