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Roy Criss has spent a lot of time lately looking out his window from his office at the Des Moines International airport. But Criss, the airport’s air service and public relations manager, isn’t watching airplanes – his sights are set on the top deck of the airport’s parking garage, and for good reason.

Criss knows that nobody wants to park on the top deck. So, if patrons are forced to leave their vehicles exposed to the full brunt of Iowa’s weather because all of the covered lower levels are full, business must be humming.

But the cars have remained happily tucked below the upper deck, mostly out of the sight of Criss during the past year, much to his and the airport’s dismay.

An industry-wide slump in 2009 brought on by the economy led to a 7.59 percent decline from 2008 in the total number of passenger enplanements and deplanements and a 19.7 percent decrease in total cargo weight handled at Des Moines International Airport, according to statistics compiled by the Aviation Department, Federal Aviation Administration and the airlines.

“Businesses during the year cut down on travel to save money, and on the personal side, leisure travel was bypassed by families because they were worried about losing their job or maybe they lost their job,” said Criss.

The resulting deficiencies came as major airlines such as Delta and its affiliates, the largest service provider to the airport, filtered 7.25 percent fewer passengers through the airport in 2009, while the second- and third-largest providers, United Airlines and affiliates and American Eagle, reported a 12.7 and 11.8 percent decline respectively.

That’s bad news for an airport that, although owned by the city, is an enterprise zone that must generate its own operating budget. Losing out on the approximate $4.38 that the airport receives per passenger traveling through the airport left a shortfall in the budget. In 2009, 143,920 fewer passengers were enplaned or deplaned than in 2008.

“Obviously, the fewer people that pass through the airport, the less revenue we have available for us to operate by. So it hurts. You have to cut the budget,” Criss said. “It is very concerning. The reason why we exist is for people to get on planes and go places and come back. And if fewer people are doing that, then it makes it much more difficult to clean the floors, fix the doors, do repairs and attract new service.”

The airport also makes revenue for every landing of large cargo planes. In early 2009 ABX Air (DHL) pulled out of Des Moines and took with it its 524 flights in 2008. United Parcel Service (UPS) cut more than 900 flights from its 2008 total of 2,958 (32.3 percent decrease), and FedEx, which surpassed UPS as Des Moines’ largest cargo airline, reduced about 100 flights (3.9 percent decrease). In total, cargo flights to Des Moines declined to 11,362 in 2009 from 13,186 in 2008, a 13.8 percent decease.

“Cargo is not very sexy, but cargo pays a lot of bills,” Criss said. “Because those are big planes that hit the runway hard, and that is what they pay us. As a user fee they pay what we call a landing fee and it is all based on the weight of the plane. So fewer planes, fewer landings, less money.”

But Criss takes some solace in knowing it’s not just Des Moines’ airport that is suffering.

“The reason why I am pretty sure it was the economy, is because this happened everywhere, not just here,” Criss said.

Criss said the CEO of the International Air Travel Association called 2009 the worst year ever in the commercial air industry. He said that commercial carriers collectively cut capacity – reduced the number of seats they were flying – by about 20 percent.

“For us to only lose 7.5 percent of the traffic when the industry convulsed to 20 percent, is almost a victory,” Criss said.

Criss provided passenger traffic comparisons to similar airports such as Eppley Airfield in Omaha, which was down 4 percent, Kansas City International Airport, which was down 9 percent, and Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, which was down 2 percent.

But there is a new glimmer of hope.

On Feb. 11, AirTran Airways will open up new destinations for Iowans through its service to Milwaukee from Des Moines. From Milwaukee, Iowans can reach 19 of the top 25 travel destinations. As a result, Republic Airways, which owns Midwest Airlines and Frontier Airlines, has made Frontier’s service available out of Des Moines. Its flights will also go through Milwaukee.

“Anytime somebody produces downward pressure on fares, it forces everybody who operates in that market to lower their fares,” Criss said. “I think when you take away the excuse of high fares, people are going to come back.”

AirTran also opened up a new non-stop route flying its own 117-seat planes to Orlando International Airport, with service beginning March 6. As a result, Criss said, Allegiant Airlines, which currently has non-stop flights from Des Moines to Sanford International Airport – a smaller airport about 15 miles north of Orlando – moved its service to Orlando International Airport beginning March 5.

“So now what Central Iowans have is direct head-to-head competition to a top-10 destination,” Criss said.

All of this could help the airport increase passenger traffic in the next year, and hopefully gain more destinations in the future – beneficial for Iowans seeking lower fares because of competition and for the airport, which is seeking better traffic. Criss said he is hoping AirTran will expand service to other destinations as well, but that there is no way to ensure that happens.

“All we can do is plead and beg and try to convince them and make the environment as receptive as we can and try to educate the community that what they are looking for is numbers,” Criss said. “The more people that use this airport, the greater chance you have of getting enhanced service.”

The outlook for the industry in 2010 is flat, Criss said, but he thought the airport had hit rock bottom and started back up. He said that as long as something else bad doesn’t happen, the airport should be OK. And even through the tough times, the airport recently completed its concourse renovations and is in the process of installing a better baggage handling and screening system. He also said that management has been able to reduce the cost of doing business at the airport for the past three years. Whether that will happen again in fiscal 2011, he couldn’t be sure.

But Criss said, according to weekly parking reports, numbers that had been decreasing for about 10 months are suddenly a bit above last year’s numbers.

Which means he could soon be seeing more cars out his window, freezing on top of the parking garage.

Good news for the airport, bad news for your car.