"Florida Airport Authority seeks community's help to attract commercial service"

Friday, June 20, 2003

Airport Authority seeks community's help to attract commercial service 
By JOHN HENDERSON
The Naples (FL) Daily News


The Naples Airport Authority has launched a campaign to build a community
partnership to bring back scheduled commercial airline service to the
airport. 

And another one to convince those who are calling for it to close down of
the positive economic benefits of the Naples Municipal Airport on the
community. 

Authority officials have been in contact with business leaders about
possibly buying up blocks of tickets in advance, or showing other support,
to persuade a commercial carrier to offer scheduled flights out of Naples. 

Over the weekend, US Airways Express had its last flights between Tampa and
Naples. It was the last commercial air service carrier to offer scheduled
flights to the public out of the airport. 

At a Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce meeting on Thursday morning, a flier
put out by the authority was distributed to the business leaders, urging
them to help turn the situation around. 

"Let's Bring Back Service!" the flier read. "A community partnership can be
a winning combination to attract air carriers and bring back scheduled air
service to Naples. Communities across the nation have launched successful
air service development campaigns to attract air carrier service." 

The flier notes recent surveys that show that 94 percent of Naples business
travelers want scheduled air service at the airport, and 70 percent of
Naples residents want it. 

Chamber President Michael Reagen said he believes the business community
could help to persuade a commercial airline company to offer service out of
Naples. 

"I believe that there is the real potential for a commercial service from
Naples airport," said Reagen, who said he has experience recruiting airlines
in the Midwest. "The community has to really make a case for the service." 

He said incentive packages need to be put together by companies and offered
up to airline companies. 

"Those could be, for example, telling the airline company that we'd help
inform the different public groups of people (about the new service). There
is marketing that may need to be put into a proposal package. This could
include, for example, county tourism people mentioning (the new air service)
in publications and the Chamber mentioning it." 

He said the dollar amount this is worth could be mentioned to the airline
company as part of the sales pitch. 

Reagen said he has also had conversations with business owners about buying
up blocks of tickets or vouchers as an incentive for an airline company to
start up service in Naples. 

"I think the business community ought to explore that," he said. 

Reagen said he hoped that business leaders would be able to sit in on the
meetings in which airline companies were offered proposals. 

"I'm not aware of any progressive community in the U.S. that has been
successful in recruiting and retaining commercial airline service where most
of the driving force did not come from the community, instead of the
authorities that run the airport. Another way of saying that is that
business people like to talk to business people." 

Gail Cureton, a spokeswoman for the airport authority, put it this way
during a break in Thursday's meeting: "Airlines don't serve airports, they
serve communities, and it is going to take the community to get an airline
in here. That's the bottom line." 

The authority decided on Thursday to go ahead and apply for a Department of
Transportation grant that helps airport market airlines to potential
carriers. But they said they weren't sure whether the battle with the
Federal Aviation Administration over the Stage 2 jet ban might prevent them
from receiving this help. The FAA has stopped awarding airport grants while
it continues to ban the Stage 2 jets, which were made in the 1970s and 1980s
and are generally noisier than newer models. 

Cureton said a community partnership can be successful in bringing in a
commercial carrier even if the grant does not come through. 

Authority member Peter Manion said officials from Mesa Airlines, a US
Airways regional jet service, have agreed to meet with Naples officials
about starting up a service at the airport. He said it would make sense for
the airport to offer flights to airport hubs where other connecting flights
can be accessed, to places such as Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., or Miami. 

"(Mesa officials) indicated they'd be coming to Naples at a date to be
determined. At those series of meetings, we want to have the support and
presence of the business community, as represented by the Tourist
Development Council, the hotel groups, and the Friends of the Naples
Airport," Manion said. 

Manion told fellow authority members that the situation with commercial
airline service at Naples airport can only improve. "We're at the bottom.
There is no place to go but up. We'll continue to push on it and, hopefully,
we'll see some success." 

The authority is also going on the offensive to convince the community that
the airport is a viable part of Naples and its economy even though there is
no longer scheduled commercial service. 

Authority member Eric West took exception to those in the community who are
now labeling Naples Municipal a "private airport." 

"That is factually incorrect," he said. He said an analogy is someone
calling Fleischmann Park a private park because it doesn't have the
amenities of Disney World or a water park that charges admission. 

Authority staff, using models from previous consultants, have come up with a
study showing the economic impact of the airport on the community. And the
authority urged Cureton to share this study with the community. 

Cureton on Thursday presented the results to authority members. 

"The presence of an airport in any community represents a significant asset
that can be analyzed in economic terms as a sustainer of commerce and
supporter of households and economic growth," she said. 

She said the authority's positive contribution to Naples community began in
1969 when the authority began operating the Naples airport. 

"Today, with an assessed value of $97 million, the authority operates a
fiscally strong public airport without taxing the residents of the city of
Naples. The overall value of the Naples Municipal Airport to the community
is not now, nor has it ever been, measured solely based on the availability
of scheduled commercial airline service. However, this board has made the
restoration of scheduled commercial airline service a staff priority," she
said. 

She said the airport generates tens of millions of dollars of direct and
indirect economic impact on Naples. 

"That direct impact is more than $56.5 million in 2002," she said. "The
economic impact of the airport is even greater when you consider that
thousands of visitors arrived at Naples Municipal Airport annually in
personal aircraft, corporate aircraft as well as commercial aircraft, which
includes the many non-scheduled commercial aircraft that operate and
continue to operate at our airport. Those visitors spend money at our
hotels, restaurants, shops and other Naples enterprises." 

She also said the local economy benefits from the 442 jobs at the airport. 

"If taken collectively, those 442 jobs would make Naples Municipal Airport
the 22nd largest employer in Collier County, sandwiched between FNB Corp., a
commercial banking firm, and our local daily newspaper."


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