Denver airfares keep falling, bucking a nationwide trend

Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 25, 2007 at midnight

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Airfares in Denver fell 4 percent in the third quarter amid heavy competition, bucking a national trend of rapidly rising ticket prices, according to the latest government data released Wednesday.

And there's more good news: The decline in Denver appears to have continued into 2007.

Denver was one of only six U.S. cities - four of which are in Hawaii - that posted a decrease in fares during last year's third quarter, according to the quarterly Air Travel Price Index.

Heated competition in Denver helped fuel the decrease. United Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Southwest Airlines are battling to gain passengers, and most of the nation's low-cost carriers serve Denver.

"I think you're getting some unbelievable airfares out of Denver compared to what you used to get," said Tom Parsons, who runs travel site Bestfares.com. "Denver's been a wild and crazy market."

Colorado Springs also posted a modest decline of nearly 2 percent, according to the index, which is released by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and compares price changes on given routes for identical service levels.

Fares have continued to fall in Denver, at least for vacationers. Leisure fares last week were down 11 percent over the same period last year, according to airfare expert Bob Harrell.

Business fares, however, were up 12 percent.

"I think we're seeing some softness in the leisure fares, and airlines are trying to offset that by propping up business fares," Harrell said.

Nationally, airfares at the nation's busiest 85 airports rose 7.5 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2005.Largest decreases

Lihue (Kauai), Hawaii 16.3 percent

Kona, Hawaii 12.1 percent

Kahului (Maui), Hawaii 9.7 percent

Honolulu 7.2 percent

Denver 4 percentSource: Bureau Of Transportation Statistics Third-Quarter Data

Largest fare increases

Cincinnati 24.9 percent

Charleston, S.C. 19.2 percent

Manchester, N.H. 18.4 percent

Providence, R.I. 18.4 percent

Greensboro/ High Point, N.C. 17.3 percent

Average 7.5 percent