"Florida airport insulated from drastic steps"

Friday, October 4, 2002

Airport insulated from drastic steps
Airlines are cutting jobs and eliminating flights, but not at
Sarasota-Bradenton.
By SCOTT SCHOLTEN
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL


Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport's fortunes seem to be insulated
from the desperate measures U.S. airlines are taking in response to
their deteriorating bottom lines.

The reason is simple: You can't lose what you don't have.

Airlines are trying to shore up expenses by cutting jobs and eliminating
some of the least profitable flights. One of Sarasota-Bradenton's
largest air carriers, Delta Air Lines, warned of a third-quarter loss of
$350 million, but Delta's not dropping the airport from its schedule.

Sarasota-Bradenton generally has the minimal number of flights from
airlines it does business with, so there's not much to reduce, and the
companies are unlikely to pull out of a market entirely, said Fred
Piccolo, the airport's executive director.

The airlines don't want it to appear that their networks are
contracting, he said.

"When you look at what they've done to their systems throughout the
country, there are only a couple of cities that they've pulled out of,"
Piccolo said. "They're trying to maintain their route system. They're
trying to maintain their customer base that's out there."

Traffic at Sarasota-Bradenton is down about 9.5 percent for the year
compared with 10 percent to 10.5 percent nationally, Piccolo said.

"One of the things that's happened, the leisure destinations have had a
tendency to maintain traffic better than non-leisure destinations
because the business fliers are not flying as much," Piccolo said.

Business travelers, who traditionally have paid top dollar, are watching
their expenses and flying less. As a result, airlines have reduced the
number of business routes.

Leisure travelers often pay cheaper fares, so the sales of tickets at
those prices have not been as hard hit by cost-conscious travelers.

"All the things that have been a detriment to us in a boom economy have
been a help to us in a contracting economy," Piccolo said.


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