WATERLOO - Ever try to book a flight two days in advance? For 30 to 40 people?

That is what Dave LeCompte, president of Short's Travel Management, does for the NCAA. When a team needs to be anywhere in the U.S. on short notice, Short's makes the arrangements.

Last year, as LeCompte made teams' travel plans, he found the task surprisingly easy.

"I was able to get 30 to 40 people on a commercial flight with two days notice," LeCompte said. "It was a big surprise for us that this space was available."

That space was an indicator of the trouble airlines were having last year filling seats on commercial flights. Most major airlines cut their flight capacity, but many seats remained empty.

Traffic was down at the Waterloo Regional Airport in 2008 to 49,617 inbound and outbound passengers from about 55,000 in 2007.

That's a drop of about 11 percent.

Traffic at most U.S. airports was down in 2008 - some much more than Waterloo. Passenger volume fell more than 30 percent at some U.S. airports including Oakland, Calif., and Kansas City, Mo.

Many airlines cut capacity or folded. More than 80 airlines shut down operations last year.

Despite these trends, a Greater Cedar Valley Alliance committee LeCompte heads is still working to expand passenger service at the airport.

"In my opinion, it sounds like we held our own compared to the national indicators," LeCompte said.

The fact Delta Airlines hasn't cut flights or capacity at Waterloo keeps the airport in a relatively strong position, said Brad Hagen, airport director.

Delta, which merged with Northwest Airlines last year, cut capacity nationwide in 2008, and announced domestic capacity will be reduced 8 to 10 percent this year.

However, other factors are stacked against expanding service in Waterloo.

Passengers

One major obstacle resembles the chicken-and-egg paradox. Airlines would like to see more passengers use the airport. At the same time, without more flights, it's difficult to entice more travelers to fly out of Waterloo.

"The more we demand it and utilize it, the more we'll have opportunities to use it," LeCompte said.

Passengers' memories of bad experiences can also keep them from flying locally.

In 2007, Pinnacle Airlines, which operates three of the four daily flights - all to Minneapolis - out of Waterloo, had problems operating flights on time.

"People kind of got fed up with it," LeCompte said. "Those people who travel once a year may have got a bad taste in their mouth and say 'Every time I try to fly out of Waterloo, my flight gets canceled.'"

Hagen and LeCompte said the airline has addressed the problem.

"Operationally, they've come back," LeCompte said.

Hagen said of the flights he and airport staff surveyed in 2008, about 74 percent of the 1,368 flights tracked left on time. About 85 percent left less than 15 minutes late.

The number of cancelled flights was 87 - about 6 percent of the surveyed flights. Most cancellations were due to weather, Hagen said.

Economy

In the current economic climate, LeCompte doesn't expect to expand passenger service in the next six months to a year.

Talks with low-fare carrier Allegiant Air to bring passenger service to Chicago were going well last year until the airline put expansion plans on hold due to the spike in oil prices last summer, LeCompte said.

When oil prices fell, so did the rest of the economy.

Despite these trends, Allegiant Air reported net income of $18.2 million in the fourth quarter, up from $4.8 million a year earlier. The airline brought in $35.4 million, up from $31.5 million in 2007.

"Allegiant is still on the table," LeCompte said. "We still have a good opportunity to bring them in."

A major factor keeping new airlines out of Waterloo isn't the airport. It is an airport 55 minutes away - in Cedar Rapids. Larger carriers see serving Waterloo and Cedar Rapids as redundant, LeCompte said.

"They see 55 minutes as a daily commute in Chicago," he said.

Unconventional air service

Steve Dust, president of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance said the area doesn't need to rely on the major carriers to expand air service.

"We believe markets like ours are going shift more toward small air taxi services," Dust said.

He pointed to the Waterloo-based Midwest Air Taxi as the future of small airport commercial air service.

Air travelers can book and schedule flights in advance and take a single engine plane to their destination.

LeCompte is a co-owner of the taxi service.

While the days of four commercial airlines flying out of Waterloo are gone for now, looking at smaller flights could put the Waterloo Airport at the front of a trend that's just beginning to take off, Dust said.

"I think that's going to be the long-term revolution of air travel," he said.

Contact John Molseed at (319) 291-1418 or john.molseed@wcfcourier.com.