When the Dayton airport does cut-throat pricing to cut its own throat
UPDATE
11 Sept 2016. I have some more accurate numbers for the airport economy lot. I’ve updated the post to reflect them. This is more expensive than I first wrote.
There is more to the story than a city issued press release, but, you can’t count on the understaffed Dayton Daily news to know more. If you read the paper you’ve been seeing ads by the airport touting the new lower rate, and on the airport access road, there is the billboard- all bragging about the new $4.95 a day on airport economy lot rate- from the paper:
Dayton International Airport continues its expansive program of improvements through new parking rates and benefits.
The on-airport economy parking lot has a lower flat rate of $4.95 per day ($34.65 per week) when travel is booked in and out of Dayton International.
The newly reconstructed longterm parking lot was recently reopened and is a short walk from the terminal (the DAYrider courtesy shuttle is also available). With a maximum price of $14 per day, the long-term lot includes more than 1,100 parking spaces and is brightly lit with new LED lighting.
From the DDN: Dayton Daily News – 2016-08-27
Source: Airport parking now has lower economy lot rate
What did they leave out you ask? How about that the price used to be $6 a day for years to start? And, there are only 2 competitors for airport parking: a former client of The Next Wave, Park-n-Go, and Westwind. In order to run their shuttles onto the airport and advertise “airport parking” both are bound by rules and regulations and have to pay a 10% tariff on every customer. So, when the airport forces them to cut rates, the airport makes less all around. In Dayton airport parking ads those are the “hidden fees” that in fact come right back to them.
Do the math. The airport has 1100 2800 spaces in the long term lot- meaning the city leaves at least $2800 a day on the table. Multiply that times 365 and you have $401,500 $1,022,000 potentially less in parking income from the lot. Then you add up the advertising costs, newspaper, and billboards, and maybe some TV- and you’ve spent another $50,000 at least. They average about $300,000 a month on the economy lot- or 60,000 parking days, so at minimum, it’s $60,000 loss each month, times 12 or $720,000 they are really losing by the $1 price cut. There is also the potential that with the low price, the city is pulling people away from their more expensive options which are $14 long term, $18 garage, $20 valet and $24 short term.
Dayton Airport Parking Configuration
| Lot | Price | Spaces |
|---|---|---|
| Economy | $4.95 | 2800 |
| Long Term | $14.00 | 1100 |
| Garage | $18.00 | 1400 |
| Valet | $20.00 | 200 |
| Short Term | $24.00 | 390 |
| Overflow | $4.95 | 1400 |
Park-n-Go has about 1100 850 total spots, with only a few hundred 350 committed to the self-park economy lot at $4.95 a day plus .50 for the city. They make most of their money from their valet service at $9.95 a day (plus $.99.5 city tax) which offers your car ready and waiting as you get off their shuttle- cleared of snow- or with the A/C already running. That price puts them well below the city close in lots- or the city valet rate, but with a “white glove” level of service. The city also collects an extra $.99.5 from each of these- making PNG still cheaper than any of the higher priced city lots.
The reality is, the Airport has the advantage all the way, since they don’t have to pay property taxes, and they don’t have to make a profit. Trust me on that last part. All one has to do is look at the horrendous deal the city did to build a parking garage- that gave away the bottom floor to the rental car companies for free for 20 years- and then spent over $600K in legal fees to try to weasel out of the bad deal. (they lost). And note, half of the people parking in the three story garage, are paying $18.00 a day to park on the roof- with no cover over their car.
Speaking of bad deals, in case you didn’t see the other story about the Airport- we’re also getting screwed with some of the highest fares in the country.
The average price of a domestic ticket dropped to $361 in the first quarter, down 7.8 percent from the same period in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Dayton International Airport saw a drop in average fare amounts for the first quarter of 2016. Prices for airfare averaged about $427.59, down from $431.57 in the first quarter of 2015.
Source: Ticket prices remain high at Dayton airport | www.mydaytondailynews.com
When NCR pulled out of Dayton, one of their excuses was the lack of flights and the costs.
Maybe, the airport could focus on actually adding value to the community, instead of trying to put small independent business people out of business.
And maybe, we stop the insanity of having a regional asset, run by, and paid for, by a single municipality? The city of Dayton has way too many other things to work on, in the city- not in Vandalia.
If there is a real reason for regionalism, it’s that stupid moves like this, affect the whole region.
Good post. As usual, you bring new, fresh insight into local situations that pass over the majority. I am ever amazed at your never ending, steamrolling of innovative, out of the box ideas. Now in particular since you are grieving the loss of your father.
Thanks Bismark. Bad news. I was off with my numbers- this is more expensive than I first posted. See updates.
The presumption here is that people will choose airport parking regardless of comparison pricing rather than lowest rate regardless of convenience. I’ve always parked in one of the off-airport lots when it was cheaper (and to be fair, usually I’m travelling for professional development on the taxpayer dime, and I’m careful to cut costs as best I may). Now that it’s just as cheap and more convenient, I’m using the economy lot in DIA. It’s the old free-market law of supply and demand; a shame airlines don’t have to compete like that so much.
Couple of issues.
1. Prices are up because passenger count is down. Not the opposite. However, $107 round trip to Chicago in early October so that’s about as cheap as it gets.
2. The economy lot is about 25% full on the average day. It’s an extra 60 second walk maybe. Parking anywhere else, including valet is dumb.
3. Yes the price cut is ridiculous. Pave the lot which is falling apart. Most travellers swipe corpoate cards and couldn’t care less.