"South Carolina airport tallies losses, expenses"

Tuesday, September 25, 2001

Airport tallies losses, expenses
By DAVE L’HEUREUX
The State - Columbia (SC)


The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington could cost
Columbia Metropolitan Airport up to $500,000 in extra expenses and lost
revenues, officials said Monday.

Meanwhile, anecdotal accounts indicate some Columbia flights are
carrying far fewer passengers than before the attacks, airport officials
said.

“We are spending more for salaries and overtime to beef up our
security,” said airport director Mike Flack on Monday.

The airport recently hired six people to help its police force inspect
vehicles driving toward the terminal and parking lots, said Chuck
Henderson, director of operations.

Henderson added that up to 600 people, including caterers, cleaners and
fuel company employees, will undergo federally mandated rechecks of
their backgrounds.

The rechecks will seek to find whether anyone with access to jets and
secure areas has a criminal background, Henderson said.

The attacks, in which hijacked commercial jets collapsed the World Trade
Center and damaged the Pentagon, forced airports around the country to
heightened security.

As a result, air passenger volumes have fallen sharply, forcing many
airlines to cut flights and employees, and successfully request a
multi-billion dollar federal bailout.

Flack said airline executives have told him that some Columbia passenger
volumes have fallen 75 to 80 percent.

Others are off only 20 to 25 percent, he added.

“We are rebuilding our passenger loads,” Flack said. “We’re getting back
our business flyers. The leisure travelers will come back more slowly.”

By next week, the airlines should make available hard numbers on the
drop-off in Columbia passenger volumes, Flack said.

Columbia Metro now has 44 daily flights, compared to 53 daily flights
before Sept. 11. The losses are:

nþFive daily flights to Raleigh or Atlanta from Raleigh-based Midway
Corporate, which stopped all service Sept. 12.

nþThree daily US Airways Express flights to Reagan/National in
Washington, D.C., which remains the only airport still closed.

nþOne daily Delta flight to Atlanta, which the Atlanta-based airline
soon will resume.

Flack also said the transition to smaller jet service for the US Airways
Express flights to Charlotte will occur Sunday, Oct. 7.

US Airways Express is taking over the Charlotte service from US Airways,
which is diverting its 90-seat F-100 jets to other uses.

The nationwide grounding of all flights after the attacks cost Columbia
Metro $35,000 in lost landing fees, concessions and parking fees, Flack
added.

The Federal Aviation Administration closed all airports on Sept. 11-14
to avoid further airborne attacks or hijackings.

About 1.21 million passengers used the Columbia Metropolitan Airport
last year. Flack said he was confident the airport would avoid serious
losses in passenger volume.

Columbia Metro also is the South Carolina hub for UPS and accommodates
other package carriers, as well.

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