Continental ends flights to Alabama capital
— -- Community and airport leaders in Montgomery were forced to accept that Continental Airlines was leaving the market. The last flight to Houston takes off today. Now, they have to figure out exactly what that means.
When Houston-based Continental announced in June that it was dropping its twice daily service between Montgomery Regional Airport and Houston, leaders expressed hope that they could convince the airline to stay put. Failing that, they wanted to find another carrier to take its place.
Those efforts barely got off the ground.
Airport and business leaders are left to put a happy face on a tough situation while figuring out exactly how badly it is going to hurt.
Officials at the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce promised a no-holds-barred fight to keep the airport's only flight west of the Mississippi River when Continental made its announcement June 12.
Ellen McNair, the chamber's senior vice president of corporate development, said there simply was no way to keep Continental.
"We have come up empty. This is a tough time," she said.
Calls to Northwest to arrange meetings yielded nothing. Efforts to meet with airline executives were rebuffed. Other airlines didn't want to talk with Montgomery officials about serving the airport.
Jerry Kyser, a member of the airport authority and chairman of its marketing committee, said he had little leverage to use with Continental.
On average, the flights to Houston had more filled seats than most of the airport's other flights — airport officials could not promise to find a way to generate more passengers.
"They were not receptive to meeting with us," he said.
Continental's departure leaves two major problems for the airport: a loss of revenue and a loss of options for passengers headed to western destinations.
Kyser said he thought Northwest, which flies to Memphis, presents at least some options for passengers. Airport leaders are taking a wait-and-see attitude on the revenue.
"I think now we can promote Northwest," Kyser said. "We will try to market and push it."
