A new discount airline promises low fares and frequent flights out of Manchester Airport.
But the service won't start in the Granite State until late July.
New Hampshire Public Radio's David Darman has more.
The founder of Independence Air came to Manchester to tell a Chamber of Commerce lunch crowd about his new airline.
Kerry Skeen says his airline will offer cheap seats between Manchester and Washington, D.C.
we'll have fares that will start, and these are not promotional fares, these are our everyday fares but our lower than low fare, that's what we call it, is fifty nine dollars :09
Independence plans to run 9 flights a day out of Manchester to Dulles International Airport.
And the new airline promises to charge no customer more than 124 dollars for a last minute ticket.
Airline officials say one of the keys to offering low fares is putting full airplanes in the air more often.
And they say another key is to get ticketing costs as low as possible.
Co founder Skeen says to achieve that, the airline has customers get their tickets online.
when you go to fly i dot com we can get you booked get your boarding pass issued to you at your house and get you to the airport and it costs us less than 50 cents.
Independence has already launched service in 6 cities, including flights in and out of Logan Airport in Boston.
But Kerry Skeen says he thinks there are plenty of travelers who would find New Hampshire flights convenient to use.
and if you look at people in d.c. alot of people vacation up in this reason or have second homes, that type thing, so it is a market that we think will respond to low fares and high frequency. :11
Independence is rolling out service to 35 cities throughout the summer.
It will be the 9th airline to serve Manchester Airport.
Its fares are as low, or lower than Southwest Airlines, a major discount carrier.
But Southwest offers 2 more flights a day between Manchester and Baltimore than Independence is planning to fly to Washington.
Manchester Airport is on track to serve 4 million passengers this year.
That's four times as many passengers as the airport served in 1997.
Joakim Karlsson is an Associate Professor at Daniel Webster College in Nashua.
He says the airport's growth has started to make it somewhat less appealing to airline customers.
its already a little more difficult to fly to manchester today than it was five years ago. but, having said that, i don't think manchester is anywhere near its capacity. i don't think that the problem is particularly worried about today as they can keep pace with the growth, which i think they've been very effective in doing.
Airport officials say the addition of Independence Air should not increase congestion on the runways, or anywhere else.
Brian O'Neill is the airport's , assistant director.
if we do things right you won't see the long lines and the congestion and the lack of parking, because our planning will enable us to continue to grow, but will also enable us to continue to offer the customer service and some of the amenities that have really made us so popular in northern new england. :17
Independence Air's routes are all in the eastern part of the country.
But the company expects to take possession of 4 large jets in early fall.
At that time, officials say they will offer routes to the western states.
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