You can’t afford to get there from here
Each week I receive a newsletter from Airfare Watchdog, aggregating low-priced airfares from my home airport in Sioux Falls. For months, about the only special airfares listed in the newsletter have been these four flights: to Las Vegas on Allegiant, to Orlando on Allegiant, to Mesa on Allegiant, and Los Angeles on Allegiant. Hey Delta and United – are you ever going to give Sioux Falls flyers a break? (I won’t call out American Airlines yet, because they are adding Sioux Falls-Chicago service in April.)
After writing a previous blog about the high cost of flying out of Sioux Falls, I asked the Department of Transportation for some data about Sioux Falls airfares. As of the second quarter of 2009 (the most recent data available), the average price of an airline ticket, excluding taxes and fees, was $397.91. Compare that to a single-ticket average of $354.83 in Des Moines, and $290.27 in Omaha. I created a chart from the long-term data, and it appears those booking flights out of Sioux Falls have paid premium prices for years.
Without Allegiant Air service in Sioux Falls, the price gap between Sioux Falls and other cities would probably be even greater. 
According to the Research and Innovative Technology Bureau of Transportation, the bargain carrier Allegiant now accounts for 21.43% of the passenger traffic in Sioux Falls, second only to Northwest (which used to dominate the airport) at 22.48%. Skywest (feeder for United) is third at 20.20%, followed by United at 11.40%, and Pinnacle (feeder for Northwest) at 7.58%. The numbers were compiled between September, 2008 and August, 2009. With a relatively even spread of passengers across several carriers, one would think that Sioux Falls would have a competitive price structure – but that does not appear to be the case.
I should perhaps mention that the entire Sioux Empire has fallen victim to full retail-priced ticketing. Airfare Watchdog says this about the airport in Sioux City, IA: “Sure there are fares from Sioux Gateway Airport…but they’re way too high to meet our Dealhound standards.”
