US Airways has increased their non-stop service to Washington’s Reagan/National Airport, by now offering six flights a day.

Many of the intelligent donkeys among us will quickly point out how this is great news and that we will only need to see an additional 500 daily flights to regain the flight activity we enjoyed just a few years ago.

In sports, teams work with the hand they are dealt, making the best of the talent they are given. Unfortunately around the country, airports are now being forced to adapt as well.

Over the last five years, the top 25 airports in America have seen airlines cut back flight activity by nearly 5%. The new aviation success model has airlines operating only in markets where their yield (profit margins) are high enough to sustain their presence. Once a market, or a flight between markets, reaches a point of no longer being profitable, the service is reduced or eliminated altogether. The remaining top 50 airports in the country have seen service reductions of at least 15% and smaller regional airports have seen cuts approaching 20%.

Of course at CVG, the flight reductions have been far more serious. Once Delta merged with Northwest, the HUB preference quickly turned to Detroit and Cincinnati was left with the crumbs which fell from the table. Couple that with the recent news that CVG had the highest (on average) air fare in the 4Q of 2011 at $502 per ticket, and it seems insult has indeed been added to injury.

The easiest thing to do would be to sit around and complain about the past glory days of CVG, when we had hundreds of flights, tens of millions of passengers and a future which looked as bright as the nearing sunrise. Those days are over and now attention has been turned towards what can be done to make CVG more competitive.

At present, hard work continues by airport management to bring additional low cost carriers to CVG. As I have stated time and time again, when these airlines do decide to give CVG a chance (as Vision Airlines just announced they would do), it is then up to us as travelers to support these new arrivals as much as we possibly can. Even though CVG does have the highest average air fare in certain markets, many are surprised to find CVG has more competitive fares to certain markets and even beat fares offered by surrounding airports. No, it doesn’t happen all the time, but the cheaper deals are available to those who book well in advance and many times are rewarded with non stop flight service as well.

So while the announcement by US Airways may not be earth shattering, it is still good news and hopefully will be followed by additional announcements from other carriers about service being restored to other cities as well.