Fares now affordable at Rochester, but below national average

Taking flights out of Greater Rochester International Airport was considered to be costlier, but now flying is turning out to be affordable gradually. The flights out of the airport are not the cheapest option still, though purchasing airline tickets are not the priciest either.
 
A recent study by the U.S. Transportation Department indicated that the ticket prices for travel out of the airport sold at an average of $368 for Q3 2013. This price tag is being viewed as a major turnaround particularly when compared to earlier days when the ticket prices were quite expensive, and the domestic fares then were above the national average.
 
The study said that Greater Rochester International Airport has largely succeeded in lowering the airfares considerably, but flying out of here is still not being considered to be the cheapest option when compared to other domestic routes.

According to the study, the fares from the airport were $100 or more above the national average through the late 1990s. However, from late 2000s this gap narrowed at a fast pace, and the airfares were $20 to $30 below the national average by the year 2002.

The study pointed out that this could only become possible because of the low-cost carriers like AirTran Airways and JetBlue Airways started flying out of the Rochester airport during the same period. JetBlue Airways started operating out of Rochester in 2000, while AirTran Airways began offering service out of here in early 2002. However, AirTran Airways has stopped operating out of the airport after being bought by Southwest Airlines in 2010. The Rochester operations have been taken over by Southwest Airlines in 2012.