Yeah, between the size of Lansing (meaning fewer flights, anyway) and then the airport not regionally funded which would held the airport subsidize flights, it's meant higher prices. The funny thing is that I'm looking at average fare for 2014, and Lansing is actually about the same as Metro and Ford International. Flint is consistently cheaper. So, I guess it depends on where you need to go, which airlines are available (discount carriers coming back her would be great, we use dto use Allegiant quite a bit) and finally, just plain perception of prices. For instance, Metro was cheaper than Lansing up until about 2010 when the difference between the two is negligble. Same with Ford International in Grand Rapids. Maybe, we'll start seeing passenger numbers turn around a bit.
I think this will help the airport a great deal, if like you say, the fares in Lansing are the same or better here as in surrounding communities. I see the ads for Flint and their passenger terminal looks more modern and sleek. Lansing's looks pretty much like it did 20 years ago. Now our train station looks better than the airport terminal. I think we can do better here and with American coming in maybe people will change their thoughts about flying from Lansing. One thing when looking at fares, they could remind people the cost of parking, fuel to get there and back, perhaps even the cost of eating a meal in other cities airport as opposed to eating at home. Add all the expenses of going to another airport and see if the other fare is still better. If it is I guess you would really have to go there. Of course one could look at it as paying extra for the convenience of departing and arriving in your hometown instead of an hour or more away. I think however the airlines should offering similar fare from each Michigan airport.
I could see Lansing becoming more of a mini-hub, with passengers flying in from small airports in Northern Michigan to transfer to the DC flight and others. Out east there is a very successful airline called Cape Air, they use small planes that serve the towns on Cape Cod and the Islands, as well as other small towns in New England connecting them with Boston. I think Lansing is, as capital a destination for Michiganders doing state business or going to MSU, those folks plus others who want to connect non-stops from here, a small airline could bring a lot of passengers to Lansing. It is surprising how many people can afford to take a short flight from their small town, rather than the often difficult drive to the distant airport. It is also easy to fill up a twelve set plane. Just a thought.
A couple of things I have noticed from being out and about. I was happy to see a big crane lifting huge tree size branches out of the Red Cedar that had collected under the small rail road bridge east of Elm street. It was very unsightly there and it is nice to see they are cleaning it up, also just up from there I noticed several small trees had been felled by beavers, right along the River Trail. I was surprised to see this right in the middle of the city, but it also seems like kind of a large river for beavers to damn. Maybe they were going to build upon the branches already at the bridge. I thought it was cool anyway, that plus the big turtles have come out of hibernation.
At Moorse Park the cranes and trailers are still there by the damn.Maybe they are working on the other side. I also went to Brancroft Park after reading about the changes they were making. It really is the mountains of Lansing over there. It was a little spooky looking in the March gray light,I thought this is how Lansing must have looked like before the Europeans arrived. The golf course pond project is huge. I am with the folks who don't want the trail paved it would take away from the primeval look of the place. There is already a paved drive that could be repaved.
I agree on the airport comments above. Posted similar things in the Airport thread.
Regarding flights from small northern MI airport from Lansing, that has been tried recently. Most notably Marquette/Sawyer to Lansing. That never materialized (Marquette applied for a USDOT Small Community Air Service grant that was not approved.) There are two scheduled weekly flights between the two airport for state gov't.
I think Cape Air participates in the federal Essential Air Service program out East, but I could be wrong.
In brief, I think the biggest challenges for Lansing's airport is location -- it's nice Lansing is centrally located in the state, but there are three larger airport within ~ 1.5 hours drive. Also perception, people often believe the airport is more expensive, which is often case, but not always. I remember my years at MSU (late 90s-early 2000s), I was surprised that so few people were aware of the local airport -- either didn't know where it was located or assumed it was expensive and just looked at Detroit only.
Lansing is trying to secure weekly China non-stop flights (in support or MSU students, FRIB, and local tech firms).
What may help Lansing slightly is Southwest's cutbacks at Grand Rapids and Flint. Flint used to be served by ValuJet/Air Tran, bought out by Southwest. All of Flint Southwest's flights (Vegas, Baltimore, Florida) are going away this month and are being replaced with Chicago Midway.
Grand Rapids is seeing some cut backs with Southwest, but not as many. This may encourage mid-Michigan residents/businesses to fly Lansing more. Seems like air service cyclical. Flint or GRR acquires a new carrier, Lansing traffic declines. Lansing's traffic goes up (arrival or Sun Country/Allegiant), Flint traffic declines, etc.
I've been on-the-watch for cheap weekend flights to Cincy lately and have been finding LAN<->DTW<->CVG cheaper than DTW<->CVG. Don't ask me why. But my wife, who flies more often, said "yeah, flights out of Lansing are cheaper again suddenly for some reason".
PS gb - one thing I've read time and again is that America is suffering from a pilot's shortage, and that's one of the reasons these smaller flights are getting cut. People retiring and it takes a lot more flight time to get certified to be a pilot these days.
Maybe this is the wrong page for airport discussions, I could not find that page. I think that Cape air may be a part of that program for the small inland airports they serve. They have also expanded to Montana and Missouri. I think I'll write them about coming to Michigan. Just a point of interest Boston Provincetown Airlines PBA had these routes before before Cape Air, and they used DC 3's until the mid 80's. It was so cool to have been on one of those old airliners. It was not pressurized or air conditioned, they gave out gum and fans. It flew really low and slow so you could often see whales and schools of tuna as you flew over to Boston.
This is cool. Grand Ledge has gotten a state grant to expand the park in which the ledges reside:
GRAND LEDGE - The city has secured a $42,000 state grant to help pay for a significant expansion of Oak Park, home to the city's namesake sandstone quartz ledges that tower 50 feet over the Grand River.
Grand Ledge is among 70 applicants receiving a total of $28 million for outdoor recreation efforts from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund, the Department of Natural Resources announced Tuesday.
The money will help fund the purchase of three and a half acres of undeveloped property adjacent to the west side of Oak Park, nearly doubling the size of the park. It will expand the five-and-a-half acre park to nearly nine acres, and boost its river frontage by over 400 feet. The park currently has 731 feet of river frontage. The addition would put the total frontage at over 1,100 feet.
Oak Park's existing ledges touch the edge of the new property, which is home to smaller ledges and other sandstone structures along the river bank.
Haven't been by the ledges in years, but it's not just one of the more unique locations in the area, but in the state and the region, quite frankly.
LANSING – The Lansing region has one of the healthiest housing markets in the country, according to Nationwide Insurance.
The company ranked the Lansing-East Lansing metropolitan statistical area ninth in the nation in its health of housing market report. The Dayton, Ohio, region took the top spot.
“It’s one heck of a strong market,” said Bill MacLeod, president of real estate company Coldwell Banker Hubbell BriarWood in Lansing.
Across the Lansing region, the number of sales and average sale price increased by 5 percent from 2014 to 2015, according to statistics compiled by Coldwell Banker.
Sales increased from 4,890 homes in 2014 to 5,137 homes the following year, while the average sale price jumped from $130,086 to $137,041. The median sale price in the region was roughly $126,000 in 2015 while the average days on the market decreased from 71 to 67.
“The market is so busy right now,” said Eleanor Cowen, owner of McIntyre and Cowen Realty Group in Lansing. “There’s not enough sellers on the market. We put a house on the market in Holt on Thursday, and it had 14 showings and three offers by Sunday.”
I noticed something that could be a positive sign while walking the river trail. They were digging up and processing the mountain of broken pavement next to the Red Cedar near the "Knapp's warehouse" that may be redeveloped. I am hoping they will use the processed materials for rebuilding our streets, and also that the warehouse really is going to be developed.
On a not so great note I noticed they cut down a whole line of mature trees on Aurelius Road along where the grass lot or "park" is. The trees did not seem sick, or to be interfering with power lines, I was wondering why they needed to be removed. They are also blasting through lots of really beautiful trees near power lines on the south side. It is understandable that the trees need trimming, but they cut most of them in such a radical way that the trees have the middle or one side missing. I know this is an over reaction to ice storm complaints, and the total consideration is given to the lines and none for the trees.
If they want to cut down trees how about dead ones along the river trail and in other parks. Recent winds have brought down some huge dead trees right across the trails, people [and children!] could get hurt.
The reaction to the ice storm should not have been to cut down trees all over, but to start funding the burying of lines so we can fully prevent this in the future.
Comments
I could see Lansing becoming more of a mini-hub, with passengers flying in from small airports in Northern Michigan to transfer to the DC flight and others. Out east there is a very successful airline called Cape Air, they use small planes that serve the towns on Cape Cod and the Islands, as well as other small towns in New England connecting them with Boston. I think Lansing is, as capital a destination for Michiganders doing state business or going to MSU, those folks plus others who want to connect non-stops from here, a small airline could bring a lot of passengers to Lansing. It is surprising how many people can afford to take a short flight from their small town, rather than the often difficult drive to the distant airport. It is also easy to fill up a twelve set plane. Just a thought.
A couple of things I have noticed from being out and about. I was happy to see a big crane lifting huge tree size branches out of the Red Cedar that had collected under the small rail road bridge east of Elm street. It was very unsightly there and it is nice to see they are cleaning it up, also just up from there I noticed several small trees had been felled by beavers, right along the River Trail. I was surprised to see this right in the middle of the city, but it also seems like kind of a large river for beavers to damn. Maybe they were going to build upon the branches already at the bridge. I thought it was cool anyway, that plus the big turtles have come out of hibernation.
At Moorse Park the cranes and trailers are still there by the damn.Maybe they are working on the other side. I also went to Brancroft Park after reading about the changes they were making. It really is the mountains of Lansing over there. It was a little spooky looking in the March gray light,I thought this is how Lansing must have looked like before the Europeans arrived. The golf course pond project is huge. I am with the folks who don't want the trail paved it would take away from the primeval look of the place. There is already a paved drive that could be repaved.
Regarding flights from small northern MI airport from Lansing, that has been tried recently. Most notably Marquette/Sawyer to Lansing. That never materialized (Marquette applied for a USDOT Small Community Air Service grant that was not approved.) There are two scheduled weekly flights between the two airport for state gov't.
I think Cape Air participates in the federal Essential Air Service program out East, but I could be wrong.
In brief, I think the biggest challenges for Lansing's airport is location -- it's nice Lansing is centrally located in the state, but there are three larger airport within ~ 1.5 hours drive. Also perception, people often believe the airport is more expensive, which is often case, but not always. I remember my years at MSU (late 90s-early 2000s), I was surprised that so few people were aware of the local airport -- either didn't know where it was located or assumed it was expensive and just looked at Detroit only.
Lansing is trying to secure weekly China non-stop flights (in support or MSU students, FRIB, and local tech firms).
What may help Lansing slightly is Southwest's cutbacks at Grand Rapids and Flint. Flint used to be served by ValuJet/Air Tran, bought out by Southwest. All of Flint Southwest's flights (Vegas, Baltimore, Florida) are going away this month and are being replaced with Chicago Midway.
Grand Rapids is seeing some cut backs with Southwest, but not as many. This may encourage mid-Michigan residents/businesses to fly Lansing more. Seems like air service cyclical. Flint or GRR acquires a new carrier, Lansing traffic declines. Lansing's traffic goes up (arrival or Sun Country/Allegiant), Flint traffic declines, etc.
Haven't been by the ledges in years, but it's not just one of the more unique locations in the area, but in the state and the region, quite frankly.
On a not so great note I noticed they cut down a whole line of mature trees on Aurelius Road along where the grass lot or "park" is. The trees did not seem sick, or to be interfering with power lines, I was wondering why they needed to be removed. They are also blasting through lots of really beautiful trees near power lines on the south side. It is understandable that the trees need trimming, but they cut most of them in such a radical way that the trees have the middle or one side missing. I know this is an over reaction to ice storm complaints, and the total consideration is given to the lines and none for the trees.
If they want to cut down trees how about dead ones along the river trail and in other parks. Recent winds have brought down some huge dead trees right across the trails, people [and children!] could get hurt.