In theory, increased use, marketing, tax breaks and a nice new airport are all good ways to improve air service in a community, said Dr. Ballard Barker, an aviation expert at the Florida Institute of Technology, but in reality they are probably not enough to change the quality or quantity of service at Augusta. Deregulation of the airline industry in 1978 and 1979 changed the way these companies did business, Dr. Barker said. During a meeting in Atlanta last month, Delta Air Lines officials admitted as much and said air service is likely to get worse, not better, for Augusta air travelers. They said the low number of passengers per flight, combined with poor ticket sales and a stagnant customer base as reasons for decreasing, not increasing service to Augusta. Dr. Barker said.
Load factor is what percentage of seats are filled.
Augusta is not producing enough of either, he said. Several airports in Florida have lost airline service because they had high load factor, but low yields, Dr. Barker said. Most of the passenger base was made up of economy class and frequent flier passengers. The yield was poor, Dr. Barker said. There is talk among aviation officials in Augusta that once turbo prop planes are replaced with the smaller and more comfortable regional jets, Bush Field usage and service will increase.