BRANSON, Mo. (AP) - The number of passengers taking off from the Branson Airport has declined for the third straight year.
At the privately funded commercial airport, 5,149 people boarded a plane from January through the end of October, a drop of 63.5 percent compared to the same 10-month stretch in 2015, the Springfield News-Leader (https://sgfnow.co/2izek4b ) reported.
The airport opened in 2009 and was meant to provide a more direct route to the southwest Missouri tourist destination; the Springfield-Branson National Airport is an hour north.
The Branson Airport’s number of passengers peaked in 2013 with 113,584. But its two mainline carriers - Southwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines - pulled out of the market in 2014 and traffic has plummeted as the mainline carriers have been replaced by public charter flights.
This year, July was the busiest month, with 1,332 boarding passengers, compared to 3,303 in 2015. There were no passengers in February, March and April.
Branson Airport’s commercial service ran through late November, but figures pertaining to the month were not immediately available. Even stellar November figures would leave the airport well short of its 2015 passenger counts.
The statistics are included in publicly posted reports issued to bondholders. The reports indicate that Branson Airport LLC had a net loss of about $11 million through the first three quarters of 2016.
Branson Airport Executive Director Jeff Bourk said the airport is currently working on its 2017 offerings, with the goal of expanding service.
In a news release this month touting the economic benefit of the airport, a public-private group called the Taney County Partnership said it was working with a committee to spur investment in a fund designed to return service to key markets. The fund includes $1 million from the public sector and an undisclosed but “significant” level of private-sector investment.
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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, https://www.news-leader.com
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