Pax Pay Average Of 48 Percent More

When you think of the most expensive airports to fly out of in the United States... which ones come to mind? Los Angeles International? Chicago O'Hare? JFK, or maybe Dulles? Well, then you're not from Cincinnati... where residents of that southwestern Ohio city will tell you, it ain't cheap catching a flight from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International to almost anywhere.

A recent study by the US Department of Transportation backs that up... saying that during the last three months of 2005, the average one-way ticket price into or out of CVG was $230 -- a whopping 48 percent higher than the national average.

So who's to blame? Well, the airport blames Delta Air Lines -- which operates the vast majority of flights from the airport, as that airline's second-largest hub behind Atlanta. That gives the airline the advantage -- as Delta can pretty much set the prices, and competitors follow suit.

A spokewoman for Delta doesn't deny the airline is able to attract high fares from CVG... saying Cincinnati customers are merely paying for the privilege of having over 120 direct flights to chose from... as much as three times more than similarly-sized airports in the region have to offer.

Gee... to save half-again as much on a ticket, it may just be worth it to have to connect somewhere... even if it is through Detroit.

FMI: www.cvgairport.com/, www.delta.com