A port in the storm - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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It was Wolfland's firs trip to BWI since before the airpory completed an expansion of two terminalsx inMay 2005. "The security line used to be down a dark she said. "It was a depressing airporg I didn't like coming to." But Wolfland calle d her first glimpse ofthe airport' new main terminal She had a clear view of how long the securitty line for her concoursde was, and even before tackling it, the Bethesda resideng was thinking about switching her allegiancw from Ronald Airport to BWI for future trips. Attracting and holding onto passengers like Wolfland is more importang than ever forBWI -- and it's also gettingh more difficult.
The rising pricer of oil has many airlines leakinv red ink and slashing flight An aging national air traffic control system and flighty cuts are expected to mean overstuffex planes and flight With cash-strapped carriers tackinfg fees onto everything from baggage to watef to pillows, passengers are likely to be more stresserd than ever. How well BWI serves them will help determine how effectivelyh the airport can weather the touguh times and succeed when the industry beginsd togrow again. But even with all that on the BWI is flying high inmany respects.
More than half the airport'e traffic comes from SouthwesgtAirlines -- the only airlin that has consistently turned a profit since oil pricesz spiked. That means BWI likely won't see as many fligh t cuts as airports dominatedby money-losinbg airlines. BWI's airfares are lowet than those of itstop competitors, importanty to penny-pinching travelers. And in most cases, BWI gets travelersw on their way more quickly than itsmain competitors, with shortefr wait times at security checkpoints and fewee delayed flights.
The airport's efficient, well-lit terminal desigjn also has earned praise from manytravek experts, and the airport ranked high in a nationak customer service study this year. "BWI is probablyt in one of the more enviable positiond inthe industry," said John editorial director of . Still, theres are plenty of factors that could keep BWI Even before fuelpricese spiked, BWI was spending more money than it and a major industry downturn could furtherf affect its budget.
Airlines are paring route s that don't generate high profits, and mainstream carrierz often find it hard to make money on routes serving airports with a large presence of discount That means big nameslike , the fifth-largest airline at BWI by passengeer traffic, could see the airport as a primer target for cuts. Even with the tough timew in the industry, BWI had a record month for trafficin May, with 1.9 millio commercial passengers. But in June, passengee traffic dropped by 3.3 percent from the same montjh ayear earlier, to 1.9 million people. Executive Directort Timothy L.
Campbell said flight cuts havedecreasef BWI's passenger capacity by about 4 percent, and that declined could double by fall, when carriers are expected to furthefr slash schedules. If passenger traffix falls off, that has ripple effecte on everything from concessionsto parking, Campbell said. Unlik e many airports, BWI, where about half the passengers are flyinvg on business and halfon doesn't have a monopoly on air service in its Reagan National and are within driving distance, and is not too far away to That means if BWI veers off passengers have plenty of Kevin Mitchell, head of the advocacy group , gives BWI high and so do most of the business travelerss he talks to.
"BWI is one of the best-ru n airports in the Mitchell said. "It starts with the desigj of theairport -- it's a relatively easy-to-understandr airport, in terms of how to get around." Most passengerz interviewed at BWI recently felt the same way, saying the airportr was clearly laid out and signs were easy to Passengers also said that in their security lines ran relatively without too much congestion. The major item on wish lists is free accessa towireless Internet; BWI offers Wi-Fiu access but at a monthly "The ease of entry was remarkable, and I've been to a lot of said James Jonah, who had flown in on from London.
But Jonah had a long wait at customs, and said he wantx the airport addstaff there. The federal , which handles airport security, has used BWI as a pilot site for several new efforts like the CheckpoinyEvolution scanner. That has helped BWI's stafrf to get an early start on new security initiatives and work out the kinks forpassengerd sooner, Mitchell said. It's cheaper to fly througj BWI, thanks to the dominance of Southwesfand , the airport's second-largest carrier. The average fare at BWI in the first quartefwas $281.31, compared with $417.65 at $396.94 at Reagan and $338.66 in Philadelphia, accordinb to U.S. Department of Transportation statistics.