"Solution sought to Mid-Continent airport bottlenecks"

Monday, November 4, 2002

Solution sought to airport bottlenecks
By Jerry Siebenmark
The Wichita (KS) Business Journal


The director of Wichita Mid-Continent Airport says he would like to add a
second passenger screening area.

Airport director Bailis Bell said Monday he is hoping to convince
Transportation Security Administration officials to split the
Mid-Continent's passenger screening area into two - one for each passenger
concourse. He said that would alleviate the frequent bottleneck of
passengers created with a single passenger screening area.

"It's like putting 100 pounds of potatoes into a 75-pound sack," Bell told
board members.

Bell made the comments during a meeting of the Wichita Airport Authority
Advisory Board Monday afternoon. Bell also reported that the transition to
federalized airport passenger screeners has been completed.

The board also heard a report from Greteman Group, an advertising and
marketing firm that is handling the airport's "Ditch the Drive" campaign.
Greteman Group's Beth Chapple says the campaign will continue in 2003
promoting the region's biggest airport as well as AirTran Airways and
Frontier JetExpress through a print, television and radio advertising
campaign. The advertising is targeted to an area around Wichita north to
Salina, west to Hays and south to northern Oklahoma.

Chapple says a direct mail campaign targeting individual businesses and
corporate travel departments is planned for next year.

Chapple says more promotions touting AirTran's Chicago route - the route is
not attracting as many flyers as AirTran officials had planned - will also
be offered to subscribers of the Ditch The Drive electronic newsletter,
including round-trip ticket giveaways.

Chapple told board members since launching the electronic newsletter in
August 867 subscribers have signed up. The newsletter promotes the airport,
Frontier and AirTran with testimonials from local business leaders. She says
89 percent of subscribers are business travelers.

Bell says that since August $18 million in fares have been saved by local
travelers since AirTran's arrival in May.

In other business, Bell said new equipment to detect explosive residue on or
in checked baggage is expected to arrive by the end of the year. The
equipment will be located in rooms behind airline ticket counters.
Eventually, Bell said, larger bomb detecting machines will be located in
airline baggage handling areas, which will likely require "significant
expansion" to the south side of Mid-Continent's terminal building.

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