Manhattan Regional Airport flights to Dallas Fort Worth are helping city grow

It has been two months since the Manhattan Regional Airport started offering flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and the service has already exceeded expectations.

Airport Director Peter VanKuren said American Eagle, affiliate of American Airlines, is extremely pleased with how service has been since the twice-daily flights began Aug. 25. Flight loads are consistently close to capacity, and this success opens up many opportunities for the community.

"We're in a position of strength where we're doing so well that they're looking at how we can serve the market better down the road," VanKuren said.

Some of the ideas the airport is looking into are modernizing the long-term parking lot and adding a food and beverage service inside the airport. Though none of these plans are definite, VanKuren said airport personnel are taking into consideration the demands and needs for the region.

This includes the possibility of adding a third flight to Dallas and new locations, such as Chicago, in the future. However, VanKuren said these are strictly airline decisions.

"We provide the infrastructure, they provide the service," he said of American Airlines.

Richard Jankovich, chairman of the airport advisory board, said he is also was pleased with the response from the community and how service has been going. He said he sees this success continuing as more people recognize the service and come to use it.

Several K-State staff members have recognized the convenience of flying straight into Manhattan after a trip. Kirk Schulz, K-State president, and John Currie, K-State athletics director, both said they enjoy the absence of a two-hour drive from Kansas City and a hotel stay.

Schulz and Currie said they recognize the opportunity the additional flights add, such as attracting prospective students and athletes to K-State.

VanKuren also said the military has been taking advantage of the additional flights to DFW. He said the strength of Fort Riley was one of the reasons the airline chose this region.

"Not only are there soldiers leaving with official orders, but when you take into account all the dependents, soldiers going home on leave, military retirees, the contractors that support Fort Riley – taking all of this into account, there's a huge amount of use there," he said.

Jankovich said the addition of flights also is a factor in attracting new businesses to Manhattan, such as Mega Starter and the Arthropod-Borne Animal Disease Research Laboratory.

With more people flying to and from Manhattan, Jankovich said he would like to see some kind of transportation service put into action. He said this service could be useful in getting people from the airport to their next destination in the area.

In 2007, the airport began an effort to seek out interested airlines to come into the Manhattan market with the plan to start flights to DFW. American Airlines was offered incentives like not being charged landing fees, fuel flowage fees or office rent. It also was offered a two-year contract to serve the Flint Hills area.

VanKuren said he does not rule out adding another airline in the future, but said he does not believe it would be a profitable move for the airport or beneficial for the region at this time.

For now, the airport will stick to its two flights to DFW. However, VanKuren said he feels confident the success the airport has experienced in the past two months will continue as the community expands.

"I don't see this service going away," VanKuren said. "I just see it growing."

It's acceptable and a quick way to travel.

Good thing, but a safety hazard.

As long as they don't hurt anyone, then it's fine with me.

I actually saw a girl get hit on by a bike last Thursday. You have to watch out.

By Sheila Ellis Kansas State Collegian

He took some of his first pictures as a Collegian photographer 40 years ago, and now he has become one of the most productive contemporary contributing photographers for National Geographic.

Jim Richardson spent the entire day at K-State speaking to photojournalism and agriculture classes Tuesday. In the evening, he presented a slideshow of his works from the pyramids in Africa and the Taj Mahal in India to the night-time, blind-folded riding lawn mower contest in Cuba, Kan.

"That's the stuff of small towns," Richardson said. "It doesn't have to be exotic places to make interesting pictures."

He explained his philosophy on photography through a series of photo stories.

"Photography doesn't mean anything unless it changes people's minds," he said. "The meaning of the image goes straight to your heart."

One of the photo stories he shared was his 2004 National Geographic color story on the Great Plains with a 30-year retrospective photo documentary of Cuba, which was profiled twice by CBS' Sunday Morning, first in 1983 and again in 2004.

"I was inspired by all that time in Cuba, Kan.," whose population at the time was 230, he said. "When you think of a city that small, you think nothing happens."

Richardson presented his photo documentary of the farming community of Cuba through lessons he learned during his time there.

"I learned about the idea of community," he said. "Community happens when people are together."

Photos of different town festivals, male beauty contests and rocking chair tournaments filled the projected screen in the Flint Hills Room in the K-State Student Union.

Richardson said the goal of his Great Plains photo story was to show people who were not familiar with Kansas its beauty as well as people who drive by the Flint Hills everyday.

"I was tired of people thinking Kansas is just flat or not beautiful," he said. "After looking at the photos, people say, ‘I drove by that everyday but nobody ever told me it was something.'"