"Seattle-Tacoma Airport Garage Suffers from Revenue Woes"

Friday, May 24, 2002

Seattle-Tacoma Airport Garage Suffers from Revenue Woes
The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.


Consider the bright side of Michael Civitelli's problem: Even with 2,500
parking spaces in the vast Sea-Tac Airport parking garage still
out-of-bounds for security reasons, he never hears complaints anymore
about a shortage of parking places.

The middle floors of the 9,000-car garage are packed with cars on most
days, but the uppermost floors of the spiral-ramped structure are often
as deserted as Safeco Field in January.

As Sea-Tac's manager of landside operations, Civitelli is in charge of a
garage that since Sept. 11 has become one of the airport's more painful
fiscal migraines.

While the airport as a whole still suffers from reduced traffic, the
garage has borne a disproportionate share of that misery. Garage
revenues are about $1 million a month short of matching last year's
performance.

"Revenues are down about 21 percent,"Civitelli said."And we're having to
count every paper clip to make our budget work."

Lower airline traffic, security rules and the flat economy are all
contributors to the garage's problem, he said. Private lot owners and
managers near the airport say a glut of new off-site parking spots and a
price war also have hurt their bottom line, as well as Sea-Tac garage's.

The shortfall of passengers, however, is good news for travelers who
will see bargain parking prices as the summer travel season begins this
weekend.

Even more than eight months after the terrorist attacks, Civitelli said,
fewer people are traveling than last year. Sea-Tac's April passenger
count, for instance, was down 6.4 percent.

But the garage's best customers -- business travelers on expense
accounts who value the convenience of the parking garage -- are staying
away in even greater numbers.

The Sea-Tac garage now charges $20 a day for self-serve parking and $30
a day for valet parking. Long-term private lots more distant from the
airport are now charging as little as $5.99 a day for long-term parking.

And federal security rules have robbed the airport's own garage of some
of the convenience that made it worth the extra dollars for some
travelers, Civitelli said. Those rules closed 2,400 parking spaces
closest to the terminal.

Security rules prohibit parking within 300 feet of the front doors of
the terminal to protect the building from a bomb blast in the garage.

"We heard from some travelers that they're finding it just as convenient
to park off-site and take a shuttle to the airport,"Civitelli said.
Parking shuttles drop customers just across the airport drive from the
terminal.

Security rules that prevent people without tickets from entering the
airport concourses -- to pick up a relative or friend, for instance --
also have meant less short-term parking at Sea-Tac.

Economic cutbacks are also motivating former garage customers to find
less expensive parking places on the airport's periphery.

Mickey Vergillo, president of ExtraCar Parking, which has 400 spaces
north of the airport, said price has become paramount. ExtraCar's
smallest and most distant lot charges a regular rate of $6.95 a day for
valet parking.

"Even if people have a coupon in their hand from another company,
they'll pull into our lot when they see that price,"he said. The lot is
almost always full, he said.

Vergillo said the unhappy coincidence of an air travel dip and a huge
expansion of off-airport lots has kept prices low. Private operators
added 4,000 new off-airport spaces last year.

One aggressive new competitor, Seattle SeaTac Airport Parking, triggered
a price war last year when it offered free parking during the first
month in operation. It now offers rates as low as $5.99 a day on some
lower traffic days.

One of the airport area's larger off-site parking companies, MasterPark,
is even now paving 800 new spaces. Another 1,000-space lot is under
construction behind the Lewis and Clark Cinema north of the airport.

That additional parking will keep prices down, said Jack Nichols,
president of ATZ Inc., which operates three airport parking operations,
Doug Fox, Shuttle Park and Air Star.

"It's safe to assume we'll be seeing a lot more introductory
specials,"he said.

Even with reasonable prices, traffic in the off-site lots remains down,
private operators say, though not nearly as much as at the airport
garage.

"We're down about 10 percent despite all our best efforts,"said one lot
manager, who asked not to be named.

Besides competing on price, off-site operators are becoming increasingly
sophisticated in their search for new business.

Big operators such as Thrifty Airport Parking, for instance, offer oil
changes, tune-ups, car washes, remote airport check-ins for Alaska
Airlines and mileage credits on several airline frequent-flier programs.
And some hotels offer several days of free parking with a one-night
stay.

At MasterPark and other lots, all parking is by valet.

"We cater to the people who don't want to go out in a dark, rainy lot
and who don't want to handle the luggage themselves,"said MasterPark
President Jed Gonui.

Nearly all the Sea-Tac private operators have Web sites that offer
advance reservations, special rates and print-at-home coupons for lower
rates.

ExtraCar's site, for example, even offers variable demand-based pricing
like airlines do. When demand is higher, the price moves up. When the
lot is emptier, the price drops.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, ExtraCar's Web site said parking will
cost $8.95 a day at its lot with advance reservations. The price drops
to $6.95 a day for Tuesday through Friday next week, then jumps back up
to $7.95 for the nonholiday weekend.

That variable pricing is a valuable tool, ATZ's Nichols said.

"Business people here don't travel much in August, so the price of
parking goes down because vacation travelers are much more
price-sensitive than business travelers,"he said.

While outside operators compete on price, the port has no immediate
plans to change its pricing, Civitelli said.

"Based on our surveys, we believe our prices are competitive with what
other airports charge,"he said.

Instead, the port hopes to restore some of its competitive advantage by
getting federal permission to reopen some or all of the parking spots
closest to the terminal.

Port officials declined to give specifics of that plan for security
reasons.

Other airports that have reopened close-in parking have used a variety
of measures to protect against bombs. Some search all vehicles destined
for the close parking areas. Others prohibit trucks or large vans in
those parking stalls. Some even hang protective mesh on the garage's
exterior.

Air traffic is returning to more normal levels, too.

"We're hoping that within a few months, things will be in equilibrium
again,"Civitelli said.

MAJOR AIRPORT PARKING RATES

Sea-Tac Airport's $20 daily parking rate is in the middle of major
airports, with Los Angeles highest at $30 a day and Washington Reagan
lowest at $10.

Airport / Daily Rate

Los Angeles / $30

San Francisco / $28

New York LaGuardia / $24

Chicago O'Hare / $23

Indianapolis / $20

Sea-Tac $20

San Diego / $18

St. Louis / $18

Dallas-Fort Worth / $16

Phoenix / $16

Portland / $16

Denver / $15

Minneapolis / $14

Detroit / $13

Atlanta / $12

Washington Reagan / $10

Source: Airport Web pages


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