"Blackout costs Detroit Metropolitan Airport almost $600,000"

Saturday, September 13, 2003

Blackout costs Detroit Metropolitan Airport almost $600,000 
The Associated Press


ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) -- Detroit Metropolitan Airport will have to cut costs
or raise landing fees to offset a $582,000 loss from last month's blackout,
officials said. 

"If the expenses at the end of the fiscal year turn out to be higher than
projected because of the cost of the blackout, then it could possibly be
made up by an increase in airline landing fees," airport spokesman Michael
Conway told the Detroit Free Press for a Saturday story. 

Conway said the higher landing fees would not necessarily mean ticket prices
would go up, and taxpayers would not be affected. 

The airport lost $275,000 in landing fees during the blackout as about 589
flights were canceled. 

Overtime expenses added up to $114,000, officials said. Concessionaire
losses included about $113,400 in revenue and about $35,000 in food that had
to be discarded. 

The blackout, which began Aug. 14, left 2.3 million Michigan customers
without power. The power outage stretched from New York to Michigan and into
Canada, affecting an area populated by 50 million people.


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