"Ongoing Loss of Patronage at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Airport Sparks Sharp Words"

Friday, August 22, 2003

Ongoing Loss of Patronage at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Airport Sparks Sharp Words
The Wilkes-Barre (PA) Times Leader


The continuing drop in passengers at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International
Airport fueled a debate at Thursday's board meeting on the $125,000 spent on
marketing the airport.

The number of people boarding planes in July dropped 10 percent from the
same period from a year ago.

The airport operated by Lackawanna and Luzerne counties reported 16,568
enplanements for July, compared to 18,487 from July 2002.

The plunge that began in February leaves the airport down more than 10,000
passengers for the first seven months of the year compared to the same
period for 2002.

So far this year, the airport reported 105,054 enplanements versus 115,873
for the first seven months of 2002.

In October the commissioners from both counties that make up the airport
board approved hiring SH&E consultants of Cambridge, Mass., for $37,500 to
market the airport.

The fee did not account for the cost of purchasing advertising. The firm had
previously done a $49,500 study for the airport.

After hearing the latest boarding figures, Lackawanna County Commissioner
Robert Cordaro criticized the marketing expenditures as a political ploy to
benefit the commissioners who are seeking re-election.

"In my view that's $125,000 of taxpayers money spent just to justify our
existence as a board and to cover for campaign purposes," said Cordaro, who
is a proponent of taking the commissioners off the airport board. "(That's)
a lot of money."

Cordaro is seeking re-election this year on the Republican ticket in
Lackawanna County.

"Did you vote against that?" asked Lackawanna County Commissioner Joseph
Corcoran, airport board chairman, who is also running for re-election with
fellow Democrat and board member commissioner Randy Castellani.

Cordaro said he does not recall a vote for a specific marketing campaign.

"I proposed from the time I was here that we have and increase our marketing
budget," said Cordaro.

"Why you did it and how you do is a different story. I think when it's done
for political purposes it's counterproductive," he said.

"That's your opinion," said Corcoran. "I think everybody on the board had an
opportunity to vote on it and express their feelings about it."

Airport Director Barry Centini added SH&E was hired based on a proposal the
firm submitted.

"They in their proposal came up with about $100,000, $115,000 of
advertising," said Centini. "They broke it up so much on TV, so much on
billboards, so much on the print advertising and we kind of followed that
proposal.

"This was pretty much their campaign as we brought them on board to do."

To further help with marketing, Centini said, the airport has applied for a
federal grant under the Small Community Air Service Development.

The grant could amount to $500,000 to market to specific destinations and
hire a marketing manager.

Wy Gowell, assistant director and business manager, blamed the airport's
struggles on the economy.

For July, the airport had a net loss of $55,414. In July 2002, it reported a
net profit of $22,975.

But with an accounting change, the airport could actually be in the black
each month if it counts the Passenger Facility Charge as revenue. Gowell
said.

The airport charges each person who boards a plane $4.50 with the money
being used for dedicated projects, namely the airport expansion. It counts
the money as revenue once it is spent to pay expenses.

On Thursday the board approved transferring $119,192 in passenger facility
charge fees from the airport's trust account to pay for expansion expenses.

The board also approved a 10-year lease with Tech Aviation Services to rent
space at the airport for $75,000 a year.

Including other provisions of the lease, the airport could make an estimated
$143,000 in revenues for the 2003 budget year, Gowell said. The total could
vary annually depending upon the amount of general aviation traffic. The
lease can be renegotiated.

Centini sided with Gowell on the obstacles the airport faces and went into
further detail.

"It's a combination of seats on the aircraft, size of aircraft, possible
ticket prices depending upon when you want to go," said Centini.

"It's the local economy, the loss of jobs. It's the type of passenger, the
type of person that lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Do we have a lot of
leisure travelers? Do we have a lot business travelers? When you combine all
that, we got what we got."

Despite those obstacles the airport is going ahead with its $64 million
expansion. It recently completed the first of two phases of construction
with the opening of a parking lot and garage and roadway network totaling
$19 million.

Phase two, including the construction of new terminal, has yet to begin.
Centini noted the airport received a boost with a $6 million grant in
discretionary funds from the Federal Aviation Administration. The money will
be used for the terminal construction.

Additionally, the airport received $3.3 million in entitlement funds.

"Things are going to bounce back," Centini said.


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