"Florida airport's lost business forces board to cut budget"

Tuesday, September 25, 2001 

JIA's drop-off forces board to cut budget
By Christopher Calnan 
The South Florida Times-Union


Flights out of Jacksonville International Airport are one-third as full
as they used to be, and the Jacksonville Port Authority is cutting the
budget of its aviation division by 20 percent to make up for lost
business, a port official said yesterday.

John Clark, vice president of the JPA's aviation division, said JIA
flights are operating at 25 percent capacity, compared with a normal
level of 75 percent.

The drop in business, which happened after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., is hurting more than the
airlines. Airport concessions, which generate about one-third of JIA's
revenue, have lost customers because of tightened security measures and
the low number of travelers.

The port authority is being forced to cut its budget by $5 million, or
20 percent, because of the decrease in parking revenue and lost fees,
such as the $3 facility charge tacked onto every airline ticket.

"Sept. 11 really turned the world around for us," Clark told the JPA
board of directors. "Clearly, our financial position is altered."

Most airlines cut their flight schedules by 20 percent, but JIA beat the
national average and operated 82 of its 91 daily flights last week -- a
9 percent decrease in normal operations. But the aftereffects of the
terrorist hijackings linger.

Since the attacks, security at JIA has been tightened, and only ticketed
visitors are allowed past the terminal security checkpoint leading to
the courtyard and concourses. The change hurt airport businesses, but
Clark and other JIA officials haven't said to what extent.

He said yesterday the security checkpoint will be moved later this week
from one side of the courtyard -- at the beginning of the three
concourses -- to the "throats" of the concourses. Such a move would
allow far more access to the courtyard concessions to both passengers
and non-ticketed visitors.

Clark said cost cuts will come from long-term improvement projects that
don't need to be done immediately.

"We're looking at things we can defer for a year," he said.

But that doesn't include the second phase of JIA's $230 million
expansion project. Phase two, a $40 million upgrade of the airport's
baggage claim area, will continue, Clark said. The project is still
scheduled to be completed in May 2003. 

JIA, which was built in 1968, averaged 11,000 visitors a day before
Sept. 11. The airport hasn't provided any updated visitor figures since
then. 

Yesterday, the JPA board authorized an additional $175,000 to the
aviation division to hire four more airport police officers.

The new officers, who already are certified law enforcement workers, are
expected to begin on-the-job training this week, said Chip Snowden, the
division's director of operations and facilities.

The new officers will increase the size of the police force from 25 to
29. JIA police officers are paid about $40,000 a year.

Attached Photo's:

Students are back in the planes at the North Florida Flight Center at
Craig Field. Instructor Don Puister (left) and Rick Hahn, a pre-solo
student, go through the preflight check in the cockpit of a Piper
single-engine airplane.

John Slate, an advanced ground instructor working at the North Florida
Flight Center, says that the FAA has lifted some restrictions for pilots
and students.

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