"Airport-Growth Advocates in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Look to Raise Funds"

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Airport-Growth Advocates in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Look to Raise Funds
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel


Supporters of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport's expansion
want to raise $50,000 to help their cause.

Friends of the Airport plans to use the money to pay for aviation consultant
Jim McMillen, whom the group recently hired to bolster its arguments to
extend the south runway. The money also would be used to offset the cost of
brochures and mailings.

Christopher Pollock, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Lodging and
Hospitality Association, said the pro-airport alliance aims to raise its
profile.

About 70 people attended a breakfast for the group Tuesday to show their
support. The group hopes to raise the money from businesses, the hospitality
industry and residents of neighborhoods north of the airport.

For months, environmental activists and residents south of the airport
battered the expansion plans with virtually no one speaking in favor of it.

"We've been at this for more than a year and realized we needed to bring in
a consultant, someone technically savvy regarding airport operations,"
Pollock said.

McMillen, who was president of Miami-based AeroThrust Corp. for 20 years,
said having a second parallel runway at least 3,400 feet from the existing
runway would allow simultaneous takeoffs and landings.

"To me it's the obvious choice to get the most out of the airport," he said.

The runway project has been in limbo since May 2002, when several state and
federal agencies raised concerns that it would cause too much damage to the
environment and too much noise in surrounding neighborhoods. That led the
Broward County Commission to retreat from its eight-year commitment to the
project and to order an update of the airport's master plan.

Stiles Corp. Chairman Terry Stiles said a new fourth runway at Miami
International Airport eliminated $200 million in delay costs for a runway
that cost $161 million to build. "They got their payback in one year," he
said.

McMillen said FAA studies show Fort Lauderdale's delay costs will reach $87
million a year by 2007 if no action is taken on the south runway.

Executives with JetBlue and Spirit airlines, who spoke at the breakfast,
said convenience has been the key to the airport's success.

In an interview afterward, Spirit Airlines Vice President Marc Cavaliere
said the company moved to Miramar because of the airport's growth
opportunities.

Spirit, the fifth-largest airline at Fort Lauderdale, has grown from 1.4
million passengers in 1997 to 4 million this year. Cavaliere said having the
runway is "absolutely critical" to his company's plans to double its fleet
size and routes in five years.

"We can't afford to get into lots of congestion and conga lines of planes,"
Cavaliere said. "All that does is add costs and, more importantly, just
infuriates the customers."


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