Effort Underway To Attract Additional Air Service To Tulsa

Tulsa has begun an effort to attract more airlines to provide service in and out of Tulsa International Airport. City officials announced Wednesday a Tulsa Regional Air Service Initiative to get more airlines to consider TIA as a destination.

At issue is speed, cost and convenience, especially for business people, because that can influence whether or not companies hire people in Tulsa.

Every person arriving at the Tulsa airport is coming from one of just 15 other airports. That's how many destinations people can reach directly through TIA. That number is a key factor in business recruitment, according to a new coalition pushing for more direct flights.

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett said he's had companies turn down Tulsa just for that reason.

"And this one particular company did not consider Tulsa, because we did not have any direct flights," Bartlett said.

A lot of Tulsa's air traffic is connected to the oil industry, which is looking for direct flights to emerging hubs of their business.

"That's why Midland would be my number one pick, by far, for an energy destination," said Jerry Schuyler, of Laredo Petroleum. "You've got a Houston on the map; you need a Midland on the map."

Tulsa's available air service now consists of four airlines and 59 daily flights. There are 5,300 available seats in and out, to 15 non-stop destinations.

The top destinations are Houston, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles, but even LA is not a direct flight.

Mary Smith, with the Aerospace Alliance, said airlines can't always determine where people need to fly, if there's not a flight there already.

"The people who would be going back and forth on a daily basis, if the service was available, the airlines don't know that," Smith said. "They don't know what kind of business structure we have here."

That's why TIA has devised a travel survey. Officials say the survey will help determine current and potential needs for air travelers. It's targeted for business travelers, but there could be benefits for people traveling on their own time, since direct flights are faster and sometimes less expensive, though not always.

Take The Survey Here

Tulsa has a lot of travelers going to Orlando and San Antonio and Austin, but there is no direct flight to those cities, for now.