Colonie

What's the most popular destination lacking nonstop flights from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport?

Albany, according to a consultant working with the Albany County Airport Authority.

But he's hoping to convince American Airlines, which in December launched nonstop service from Dallas to Buffalo, that an Albany flight also would make sense.

"We want to make sure we're looking at markets that are going to succeed very quickly," said David Dague, executive vice president of InterVistas Consulting in Boston.

Dallas isn't the only city Albany airport officials would like to serve with new nonstop flights.

Also high on the list are Nashville and Miami, which currently lack nonstops from Albany, and Denver, which has daily service from Southwest and seasonal service from Frontier.

Albany has several advantages attractive to airlines, Dague says. Load factors, the share of available seats filled by passengers, average 84 percent, a couple of percentage points above the national average. Albany's average domestic airline fare, meanwhile, is 8 percent higher than the national average.

While passengers may not like higher fares and crowded planes, those factors can prove very attractive to airlines.

Dallas, Nashville, and Denver also have seen strong growth in travel to and from Albany, with Denver traffic growing over the past five years at an average annual growth rate of 12.6 percent, while Dallas over the same period grew at 9 percent, and Nashville at 7.6 percent.

American's Dallas/Fort Worth hub is the second largest domestic hub airport after Atlanta, where Delta has its main hub.

While Albany may be Dallas' largest destination lacking a nonstop, Albany's largest destination without nonstop service is Los Angeles, the ninth most popular destination from Albany.

To Jean Gagnon, who operates Plaza Travel in Latham, it's not surprising that there's no nonstop service to Los Angeles.

"You have to think how many flights connect from that point" to destinations beyond, she said. She suggested people traveling to western Mexico, Hawaii or even Asia might fly through Los Angeles. But many of those destinations can be served from such cities as Chicago or Newark, which already have plenty of nonstops from Albany.

And there are dozens of connections available between Albany and Los Angeles area airports.

When the Capital Region Chamber of Commerce several years ago sought to identify new routes from Albany, it came up with Denver, Dallas and Houston, said Mark Eagan, the chamber's CEO.

Dallas, he said, would be "a place easy to make a connection" to the West Coast, if Los Angeles nonstops were unlikely in the short-term.

Air service is a two-way street, and John O'Donnell, Albany airport's CEO, sees advantages at both ends.

"Expanding Albany's air service accomplishes two rudiments of economic development," O'Donnell said. "It opens new opportunities for our own business and leisure travelers, and it provides expanded access to upstate New York and our well-regarded national destinations such as the Adirondacks, lakeside resorts and the seasonal events at Saratoga Springs.

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"This growing access to Upstate New York should be encouraging to developers and existing venues seeking to expand facilities and attract new visitors," O'Donnell said.

O'Donnell said new service over the past year from Frontier and Allegiant helped boost seating capacity at Albany by 13.75 percent, making it the 19th fastest growing airport nationwide in April, outpacing the 4.1 percent industry average.

Dague, meanwhile, says Albany airport officials will attend a "jump start" conference in June, where they'll make their case in 20-minute meetings to as many as a dozen carriers, with the goal of securing an in-depth follow-up meeting at the carriers' headquarters.

Will American be one of them?

"Recent growth from our Dallas/Ft. Worth hub includes Buffalo, NY, which if proven successful, could lead to more opportunities," American spokesman Justin Franco said in an email. "For now, we continue to serve our Albany customers an array of worldwide destinations through our other hubs; including Charlotte, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington (DCA)."

And last month, United announced it would begin daily nonstop service between Syracuse and Denver in June.

Bare Antolos, Upstate New York sales manager for United, said the new service is part of the carrier's effort to add service in smaller cities, according to syracuse.com.

Dallas is American's fastest growing hub, and Denver is United's, said Dague, who said that if their new services to the Northeast succeed, it could brighten the outlook for service to Albany.

In the meantime, advised Dague, who grew up in Altamont, "the best way for customers to get improved air service is to use the air service you have."