2:49 am on Thursday February 3, 2011
| Posted by Ken Hawkins
Climbing fast: Charleston airport tops list of airfare increases
Image by Flickr user dcaceresd
While the Charleston International Airport may not be the most modern, it's fast rise of ticket prices is topping a list.
Average airfares at the airpot climbed 27.2% from the third quarter of 2009 to a year later — $354 to $451. It's a price that also earned the airport the second highest average daily fare price.
That's according to data released by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Likely factoring into the causes was the departure of discount carrier AirTran in December 2009. And we can hopefully expect these fares to fall as Southwest Airlines starts Charleston service in March.
Here's a full breakout of airfare changes
| 3Q 2009 | 3Q 2010 | Change | ||
| 1 | Charleston, SC | $354 | $451 | 27.2% |
| 2 | Burlington, VT | 316 | 391 | 23.8 |
| 3 | Newark-Liberty, NJ | 380 | 469 | 23.3 |
| 4 | Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN | 322 | 392 | 21.6 |
| 5 | Flint, MI | 252 | 302 | 20.1 |
| 307 | 340 | 10.7 | ||
| 1 | Grand Rapids, MI | 406 | 368 | -9.2 |
| 2 | Huntsville, AL | 490 | 449 | -8.5 |
| 3 | Atlantic City, NJ | 165 | 153 | -7.0 |
| 4 | Pensacola, FL | 360 | 367 | 1.8 |
| 5 | Spokane, WA | 303 | 311 | 2.6 |
