There’s a good chance you may never touch down at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport in your entire life….. and that may be a good thing. According to reports, Cincinnati’s airport is the most expensive of the 75 largest United States airports. Passengers there paid a whopping 22.2 cents per mile. On the contrary, those flying out of San Juan, Puerto Rico paid just 10.7 cents per mile. The determination of airfares can be complicated, but essentially it’s based on wealthier communities and number of business travelers who fly out of the airport. Of course, the airlines have this down cold. Just take flights from Europe to the United States and vice versa. It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to fly to the US simply based on the status of the origin’s economy. Another simple factor would be the amount of flights to large airports – the larger the plane the cheaper the fair – large plans fly to popular airports. Easy enough right?
That’s where Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky really fails. We’re talking wealthier areas around the airport, a lot of business travelers (Proctor and Gamble and Kroger are near by), and mostly regional flights – the perfect storm for an airport most of you have never heard of before. This is certainly a disadvantage for passengers, but the airlines too. Delta, who calls Cincinnati it’s hub, once flew about 600 flights a day out of the airport – and now just a little over 100.
You’d think flying to or from New York or Los Angeles would be the most expensive when in fact – it’s the little guys that will gauge you.
Image via Scott Olson/Getty Images
Info Graphic via Wall Street Journal
