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♪ >> This is NJ Business Beat, with Raven Santana.

Raven: Hello.

I'm Raven Santana.

Thanks for joining me on NJ Business Beat.

Many families are already planning spring and summer vacations.

Analysts expect a huge serve in air travel in 2024.

That means big business for New Jersey, which has turned itself into a hub for the Northeast.

According to an outlook by the International, the airline industry is expected to earn almost $26 billion in net profits this year.

They expect 4.7 billion travelers to take the skies.

And research by American Express Global business travel shows ticket prices should remain flat.

We wanted to get a sense of what you and your family can expect if you plan to travel this year, so I sat down with Henry Hartfelt from atmosphere research group about travel trends for this year.

Henry, the International Air Transport Association is predicting a travel boom in 2024, with more people flying and higher profits for the airline industry.

It is still early in 2024, what have you seen so far?

What do you expect going forward?

Henry: What I am seeing is continued strong demand for air travel, domestically and internationally, here in the U.S. and from the U.S..

In particular to Europe, although Asia is growing, and Latin America remains popular.

The good news for travelers is we should have more flights to more places this summer than we have had in the past.

The bad news is that of course with strong demand airlines are going to do everything they can to limit the number of the cheapest seats they sell, and try to push us into the more expensive ones.

Raven: That is right.

That is a great way to get into my second question, which is about low-cost carriers.

Our more travelers turning to these carriers?

Henry: We talk about low-fare airlines such as spirit and frontier.

Those primarily operate within North America, and maybe to Central America and the northern parts of South America.

None of the U.S. low-cost carriers have the cheapest fares that fly long-haul.

There are other airlines that do fly long-haul, budget airlines such as Norse, Atlantic, play, and others.

Travelers are showing that if a large, well-known airlines such as United offers the same price as a budget airline, they are choosing the network airline.

The reason is the network airline may have a nonstop versus a connection, more flights, frequent flyer programs, and more.

Raven: Tell us what is going on with this JetBlue, Spirit airline merger.

How could a potential merger impact travelers?

Henry: If the airlines merge, the bad news is you lose a budget airline, spirit, which has been a feisty competitor and a price leader.

The good news is JetBlue becomes larger.

And the big airlines, such as American, Southwest, and Delta, respond more often to JetBlue's price discounts then to budget airline discounts.

If JetBlue is able to grow, there is the potential that it could bring more low fares to more places, and force the larger airlines to compete more on price as well.

And if JetBlue and spirit do end up merging, and that is uncertain -- the DOJ has denied them -- has denied their merger application.

They are appealing.

I expect airlines like frontier, allegiant, and other widget airlines to backfill spirit as quickly as they can.

Raven: We also know that JetBlue recently announced it is cutting some routes and services.

How does that impact not just passengers, but staff?

Henry: So, JetBlue is cutting back, in part because they have aircraft grounded because of an engine problem -- not their fault -- and in part because they simply over expanded over the past few years.

They are trying to bring costs under control.

They are scaling back at a number of airports.

But it is possible some of those reductions may be temporary, and we may see them replace those flights in the spring and summer, when demand picks up.

But, look, airlines fly for profit, not prestige.

And they certainly don't think about being good community service members when they add or delete flights.

They are going to be very analytic, very clinical, and look at what is in the best interest of the airline, its profitability, and stakeholders.

If JetBlue cuts back in certain places, one concern I have is, will there be other low-fare airlines to replace it and provide more competition?

Raven: We know the Super Bowl is right around the corner.

Sports tourism -- how is that affecting travel?

Henry: Well, you are speaking to someone who lives in San Francisco, and so airlines have already added additional nonstops both between San Francisco and Las Vegas, and Kansas City and Las Vegas.

To their credit, American and United each numbered one of their flights between Kansas City and Las Vegas 1989, in a nod to Taylor Swift, because we know this is going to be the Taylor Swift bowl, not the Super Bowl.

Raven: What do you want to leave travelers with?

What is one piece of advice you would give them before they plan their next trip?

Henry: I would tell people this.

Start your spring and summer travel planning early, and stay on top of the airfares as you are shopping them.

If you see a flight and a fear that meets your budget, book it.

Most U.S. airlines in particular will allow you to cancel your reservation and get a travel credit if you see a lower fare in the future.

You can then apply that travel credit toward that less expensive fair -- fare, and keep the rest for another trip that you might take.

It will be more nonstop flights on a lot of airlines, including United, out of Newark and Liberty international.

That should make travel more convenient.

One thing I would also add, especially if you are traveling with a family or people where you want to be together -- if you can afford to reserve seats in advance, it may be worth it to you to pay that fee to do so, so you have the security and confidence of knowing where you will be on the plane.

Raven: Henry, thank you so much.

I hope everybody was taking notes and paying attention.

Henry: Thank you.

Raven: When you think of air travel and New Jersey, your first thought is probably Newark Liberty International Airport.

New data shows that Newark airport served a record high 49 million passengers in 2023.

That is 6% higher than 2019's previous record, and 22 percent higher than 2022.

The airport has a 29 billion dollar economic impact for the region.

One new area that is boosting that impact is the new terminal A, which is celebrating its first anniversary.

It is also celebrating 15 million passengers served in 2023.

That is 5 million more than the original terminal a could handle any year.

According to the Port Authority, the terminal has created 2500 jobs and is supporting local business.

It added 213 million dollars of subcontracts in New Jersey based businesses at the airport.

I spoke to the general manager of New Jersey airport about terminal a's economic impact.

13 years, $2.7 billion -- we are in terminal A.

Hard work definitely pays off.

Tell me about really what it took to get here.

Sarah: It took a heck of a lot of determination and single-minded focus to get this brand-new terminal delivered to the state of New Jersey and for the Port Authority.

Over those 13 years, but it took was evaluating -- do we take our old 1970 building and rehabilitate it to make it more modern, to make it ready for modern air travel?

Or do we build on a greenfield site, which costs a heck of a lot more money because of the infrastructure that has to be built, but you get a better product because you are building it from the ground up.

We decided finally on building a brand-new terminal.

Raven: Let's talk about revenue.

How much revenue has been generated from terminal a?

Sarah: It is probably about $100 million annually we are generating and revenue, shared amongst multiple parties, not just with one.

It takes a lot of entities to run a big terminal like this.

It is a huge economic generator for the region, and certainly for the Port Authority and our partners who operate out of the terminal.

Raven: Think about jobs.

Let's talk about jobs.

How many jobs have been created?

Sarah: At least when he 500 jobs have been created, and that is probably just the terminal in operation today.

That is not counting all the jobs created to get this building constructed, to get the site prepared, to get everything up and running, which took thousands of more people to play specialized functions to get us to where we are today.

Sarah: What is most notable, and you can't miss, is that you are New Jersey.

From beginning to end to walking around the stores, from signage on the walls, jersey is everywhere.

It is definitely a nod to our state, including the businesses within the airport.

That's talk about why it was important that you included local businesses here.

Sarah: The local -- look, broader scale, right?

New Jersey, Newark airport itself, has been thought of as a little sister to New York.

You are like a gateway to New York.

Everybody says, I want to get to New York.

Maybe I will go to JFK, LaGuardia.

We wanted to reclaim New Jersey identity with this terminal.

I think we have done a stupendous job.

New Jersey has so much to offer, as a person who grew up most of my life as a New Jersey resident.

I have been here since I was three.

I'm so proud of the identity we have created of New Jersey as a destination, not a gateway to anywhere else.

Secondly, we operate at Newark Liberty in the cities of Elizabeth and Newark.

Terminal a is 100% in the city of Elizabeth.

It was really important to us to bring in hyper local businesses that were representative of the people that literally live around the airport, that are impacted by our operation -- to bring in businesses that could benefit from the airport being literally in their backyard.

So we identified six small businesses that are out of Elizabeth, Newark, and Jersey City come at to come in and test their product outside of the street front they -- the storefront they are usually on in the streets of the cities they are in.

Come into an airport environment and give them an opportunity to expand their presence on a global scale, because we have people from all over the country, all over the world, flying through.

Raven: In addition to hyper local businesses, you also have a lot of global brands here, which is huge.

Tell me about some of the brands you have here, and what that partnership does for Newark airport and our state.

Sarah: It is really difficult getting the right concessions balance in a terminal.

It takes a lot of well thought out thinking about what other customers going to want.

What is it they are expecting?

When you build a brand-new, state-of-the-art terminal, you do want some global brand recognition, because people key in and say, high-end retail -- such as keels's -- Kiehl's skincare, MAC cosmetics, Starbucks coffee.

Everybody loves and knows that.

Dunkin' Donuts, they know and want that.

We want to bring in national brands, so people who travel from foreign locations are from across the country, want a familiar brand, have access to it, but in a way that is elevated and meets the standard of this modern terminal.

Raven: Tell me a little bit about the art that's -- there is local artists that were included in designing this terminal.

And why that was so important.

Sarah: It was important for us because an airport terminal is technically a public space.

It was important to have local artists represented, and to have them, through art, tell the story of New Jersey and Newark Liberty International Airport, and to really do that in a way that is artistic, expressive, and a bit different than what you would see at our old terminals, where we had art, but it was in small little locations, and you had to kind of seek it out to go find it.

Here, the entire terminal has become like an art gallery.

I think it is 27 artists on display.

We have got artwork installations from digital displays like you see behind me in the forest of firsts, or giant murals painted by local artists, or presenting everything from -- from what New Jersey represents, but even representative of the employees of the airport, incorporated into murals.

It is really incredible, the change.

Raven: Something we talked about on camera was the airport adding a sensory part to the TSA.

Sarah: A sensory room.

But we found was an increasing number of our travelers -- or we are becoming aware of an increasing number of travelers who travel through -- especially families traveling with children who are on the autism spectrum, who have sensory challenges and have difficulty getting through an airport environment comfortably, because there is so much noise.

There are so many people, so many processes you must go through.

Right before the terminal opened, we used our in-house Port Authority staff to build what we call the sensory room.

It is pre-security, located right before the TSA screening checkpoint on the south end of the tournament.

And it is a place where people who have sensory issues, whether they are a child, an adult, or whatever -- anybody who has the need for a quiet space to collect themselves before they go through the next process of their travel can go to decompress.

It is about a thousand square-foot room.

It has fish tanks, bubble tubes, very soft lighting, and it is a quiet, separated space from the rest of the departure area, which can get crowded with people checking in and all that other stuff.

Raven: Have you seen more passengers flying into Newark because of the enhanced passenger experience?

Sarah: I know I have definitely seen hype about it.

And in 2023 we served over 49.1 million passengers at Newark Liberty, which is 6% higher than our previous record, which was set in 2019, and 12% higher than the number of people we served in 2022.

This terminal being more modern -- it is a 33 date facility.

It can handle larger aircraft than the old terminal could.

The airlines are able to serve more passengers with the same amount of flights they have in the past, because they can fit larger airport in each of our dates.

It has -- each of our gates.

Raven: Finally, when do we expect to see terminal B and terminal C to get some much-needed love and attention?

[LAUGHTER] Sarah: If I had my way, he would have it today.

But really, we have established -- last year, we developed what we call a vision plan, which is essentially a master plan for what the airport will look like 50 years from now.

What we did was an extensive process.

We hired a world-class architect, Arop, and SOM, a world-class architect, to develop the new face of what Newark airport will look like in its redeveloped years, going 50 years out, to meet the capacity demands and to be able to manage the increase in passenger volumes that we are seeing likely to happen out through the next 50 years.

We have actually already started future redevelopment of the terminal -- of the airport beyond terminal A.

We worked on replacement of our air train system.

That process is in place.

We will have the air train new system operating by the end of 2029, which feels really far away, but I know I'm going to blink and it will be here.

Really needed because people want to access our airport via public transit, and we want a modern public transit link for that to happen efficiently.

Raven: What are you most proud of in terminal A?

There is a lot to be proud of.

There is a lot of accomplishments.

What are you most proud of since you were a big part of this?

Sarah: I'm most proud of the people, the people it took to get to where we are.

Over the 13 year timeframe, we have had changes in staff and changes in people.

We never dropped the ball, no matter how many changes and iterations we went through.

I'm really proud of the commitment and dedication of the Port Authority to stick to the mission to get this terminal delivered.

We are reclaiming New Jersey as the preeminent state that it is.

It is a great place to live, a great place to work.

It has so much to offer in terms of opportunity, but also just fun things to explore, right?

I love that you can be in the mountains one day, the beach the next day, and in the woods doing a nature tour, and you are within a 3 Hour Drive, Max, to get all these different locations.

Raven: Or you could just use terminal a and fly there and back.

New Jersey is a leader.

Thank you for joining me on NJ Business Beat.

Sarah: A pleasure, Raven.

Raven: Newark airport means big business for even the most big brands.

The Starbucks in terminal a is the busiest franchise outside of Disney World.

And terminal I's Dunkin' Donuts is top three in sales in North America.

His economic activity has drawn a mix of hyper local and local businesses to get travelers from New Jersey to Italy something new and exciting to experience.

I sat down with Elizabeth Saler.

She spoke about how the most important part of the planning was to ensure the terminal was uniquely New Jersey.

Elisabeth: we were persistent in making this a New Jersey term and it -- terminal.

It is not New York.

It is New Jersey.

We had workshops with discussions and questionnaires and tried to figure out what is New Jersey all about.

We created the vision of the journey of surprises, because there are so many great, interesting, fun facts about New Jersey that people were not aware of, are not aware of.

We are also really trying to incorporate restaurants you can find out on the street in New Jersey.

We have the office here.

We have the smokehouse from Trenton.

These are local businesses that are out there on the street.

We have tried to actually bring them to the terminal, incorporate them here.

And we did not just want to put jersey on something and then it is jersey.

These are real people who are operating.

Raven: While air travel is expected to surge this year, we are not all traveling for the same reason.

You could be visiting family, taking a business trip, going to a resort, or maybe you are headed to the Super Bowl.

U.S. travel agents and tour operators say, along with the served in travel will become demand for unique experiences.

I sat down with the president of the U.S. tour operators Association about what families are looking for in 2024, including an uptick in sports and leisure travel.

That's talk about some big trouble trends you expect to see in 2024.

It seems that the travel industry is definitely offering more high-tier amenities these days, for a price.

The of us examples of some of those premium perks.

TERRY: I think what you can always find with our USTOA membership is that you get value added.

You are going to get access you would not get as a solo traveler, because our members have relationships around the world.

Raven: What about travelers who are on a budget?

TERRY: We certainly have within our membership of 148 different core brands those who operate in the budget space.

You know, there is a lot of value still out there, although we know airline fees have increased.

There is still value out there.

And I think where your listeners, your viewers can benefit from that is that our members buy in volume, so they can get that value, from a budget perspective, because they purchase in quantity.

Raven: To piggyback off that, do you recommend buying those bundle kind of deals or booking separately?

Terry: Usually, the bundling has a little more value.

Either way you want to do it, we are here to accommodate.

Raven: Let's talk about sports destination travel.

We know fans will be traveling to Las Vegas for the big game and to Paris for the Summer Olympics.

Terry: It's going to be a big year, having coupled the Super Bowl and the Paris Olympics, and we see the movement that is going on within our home country here in the U.S., around soccer or whether you call it Futbol.

I think sports travel is definitely a trend, and it is going to be a big year in that category.

Raven: Do you see this type of travel growing in 2024?

You kind of answered it, but do you think there will be that boom?

We know right after the pandemic we saw it in 2023.

The thing forward to 2024, there is a lot going on in travel.

We think about airlines merging, prices continuing to go up.

What do you think?

Terry: Our survey at the end of 2023, when we talked about the forecast for 2024, extremely optimistic.

Over 90% expect a boom year this year.

That was based on presales in 2023 or 2024.

Barring any other significant global events, although we have got a lot on our plate right now with twi G -- two geopolitical crises in the world -- still, people want to travel.

Raven: Thank you for joining me on NJ Business Beat.

We appreciate it.

Before we leave you, here is a look at the top business headlines of the week.

Lawmakers breathed new life into a bill that would ban smoking on Atlantic City casino floors.

The bill, which had been debated for years, and approval from the Senate health committee this week.

Casino workers have fought for years to get smoking band, citing long-term health issues and the deaths of former colleagues.

Business groups have long argued against the ban, saying it will drive big business away from Atlantic City and into neighboring states where smoking is still legal.

At a hearing this week, analysts argued that research has shown more people will come to casinos if the smoking ban is passed.

It goes to a whole Senate vote.

The union representing faculty and research employees at you GMT strikes a deal for a -- at NJIT strikes a deal for a new contract deal which runs through June 2020 six.

The new Deal increases minimum pay for adjunct faculty and graduate workers, and guarantees health coverage for graduate employees.

In a statement, NJIT said it is happy to reach an agreement and administrators look forward to continuing a positive relationship with the union and its members.

That does it for us this week.

Her member to subscribe to our NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel to get alerted when we post new episodes and click.

Next week we will focus on the business of the big game.

From hosting parties to the true impact of investing millions into Super Bowl ads.

Thank for watching, and we will see you next weekend.

>> Funding for NJ Business Beat with Raven Santana provided by NJMEP, a partner to New Jersey's manufacturing industry focus on productivity, performance, and strategic development.

More on NJMEP.org.

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