"New Director of Colorado Springs, Colo., Airport Takes Helm at Critical Time"

Sunday, August 3, 2003

New Director of Colorado Springs, Colo., Airport Takes Helm at Critical Time
The Colorado Springs (CO) Gazette


Mark Earle will take over Monday as aviation director of the city-owned
Colorado Springs Airport.

In this role, Earle reports to Deputy City Manager Dave Nickerson and is
responsible for managing the airport's $22 million budget, overseeing
management of its 116 employees, developing strategies for maintaining and
attracting air service and developing available airport land for aviation
and other related uses.

Earle comes to the Springs airport at a critical time. Three carriers have
halted local service in the past year, eliminating service to Kansas City,
Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla., and several other airlines have reduced
local passenger capacity by using smaller jets on flights here. 

Passenger traffic is down 6.7 percent for the first half of the year
compared to a year ago and is projected to drop to a nine-year low this
year.

Airport officials also are planning a 427-acre business park on now empty
land south of the passenger terminal and are seeking proposals for
construction of an upscale terminal catering to private and corporate
aircraft.

Here are selected questions and answers from a recent interview with Earle:

QUESTION: Why attracted you to the aviation industry?

ANSWER: The love of aviation is strong for me. I have been around flying all
of my life. I am not a pilot, but my father was an air traffic controller at
San Antonio and I spent a lot of time wandering around the airport and in
the (air traffic control) tower. I loved watching airplanes. 

Q: What has been your greatest career accomplishment?

A: Anytime you build a major facility, those are huge and complex projects.
In McAllen, we built a replacement terminal from the ground up. We were able
to put together the effort to secure the federal funding. 

The building went from concept to completion in 3 1/2 years. We already had
Continental (Airlines) and attracted American Airlines, based on the new
facility.

Q: What was your top goal in Lubbock?

A: We put our resources in Lubbock into developing an industrial park. There
was a tremendous amount of land and infrastructure that could serve more
than just the terminal. 

We used a combination of federal funds to build roads, utilities and
lighting for land designated for aviation uses and got a grant from the
Economic Development Administration for the rest.

Q: How can you use that experience in the Springs, especially in the
airport's plans to develop its own business park?

A: There is a keen interest in utilizing assets of the airport to get the
best benefit, including attraction of new jobs. We have tremendous
availability of land, and infrastructure is available to use to service this
property as well. We should take every caution to make sure what we create
is (unique) and will not compete with the private sector.

Q: What will be your biggest challenge in the Springs?

A: I want to take the time to gather (information on) what the community
wants out of the airport and take advantage of the assets we have to make
that happen.

Getting the most (benefit) from the airport requires community input and
buy-in. They have done a terrific job of building an airport. But where do
you go from here? The airport seems to have taken the first step in
(planning to) develop the property. We need to define the most efficient way
to do that.

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing the aviation industry? The Springs
airport?

A: The entire industry is in the same position: All airlines are struggling
compared with where they were a few years ago.

It will be a major challenge on the air service side to make sure we have
the best mix of service. When the economy is better, the market will provide
that. It is especially challenging now to encourage airlines to fill gaps in
(local) air service.

The strategy here now is to have a broad range of carriers serving a variety
of cities. But there is a lot of talk about bringing in a discount carrier
like Southwest.

There is a good argument to bring in a discount carrier to provide access to
a large number of markets at a lower price. If you do that, you won't have
as many of the smaller niche carriers filling in gaps in the market.

It comes down to more flights or lower fares. There is some balance. If you
have a discount carrier that goes everywhere in the country, it will have a
bigger impact on the major carriers. 

Q: How should the airport respond to service cuts here by most of the
nation's major airlines?

A: The best thing to do is to keep the cost (to the airlines) as low as
possible. That doesn't mean to give (terminal space and gates) away. You
have to be responsible, not subsidize, and make service pay for itself.

The Colorado Springs airport is in terrific financial shape. The idea is to
keep it that way and realize the idea is that the airport exists to provide
aviation services to the public, be it general aviation, corporate, cargo or
commercial. 

We have to create an environment where those businesses can thrive. It is a
highly specialized commercial property venture with a primary mission of
aviation.

Q: Mayor Lionel Rivera made a campaign issue out of bringing Southwest
Airlines to Colorado Springs. How are you planning to help him deliver on
that promise?

A: It certainly is possible for a carrier like Southwest to come into the
market. It is a matter of choice and strategy.

If you bring in Southwest, it will change the (market) for the other
carriers significantly. Before you make a move like that, you need to make
sure you have a consensus. 

There is a reason Southwest is not here.

The strategy in place here (service from many carriers), is not conducive to
having a large discount carrier in the market. That is because there are a
large number of competitors that can respond quickly by matching its fares.

That is why it is important to settle on a strategy and understand it before
it is implemented. There are advantages to both strategies.

Q: Is there untapped potential at this airport?

A: The large areas, industrial development and air service, both have
potential.

We can build anything the community desires out there because resources are
already there to develop it. 

The potential is virtually unlimited. The airport needs to work with
economic development, the chamber and the city to attract new industry. Then
we are only limited by the national economy.

The potential for air service is we can grow what we have -- a large number
of airlines offering a wide variety of service options. The other option is
a discount carrier and drawing from a much broader market, not just the
Springs but potentially into south Denver.

When you decide to do that, you are looking at an entirely different
operation at the airport. We already have the terminal building, but have to
plan on a more robust operation to handle the increased passenger traffic.

NEW DIRECTOR: COLORADO SPRINGS AIRPORT 

Mark Earle starts Monday as aviation director of the Colorado Springs
Airport.

Age: 47

Salary: $109,776

Previous annual salary: $103,000

Previous job: Aviation director, Lubbock (Texas) International Airport,
1995-2003

Other employment history: Assistant aviation director, McAllen-Miller
(Texas) International Airport, 1990-1995; Special events coordinator and
airport operations specialist, Richmond (Va.) International Airport, 1987-90

Notable fact: Was one of nearly 13,000 striking air traffic controllers
fired by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Education: Bachelor's degree in political science, Southwest Texas State
University; attended one year at University of Texas Law School

Military service: U.S. Air Force as air traffic controller in Philippines
and Germany, 1974-78

SOURCES: City of Colorado Springs employment application, Gazette research


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