"Florida airport faces rivals for Small Community Air Service Development grant"

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Airport faces rivals for grant
Naples, Marathon and Orlando are competing with Sarasota-Bradenton for
the federal money.
BY KEVIN MCQUAID
The Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune


Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport says it "desperately" needs a
$1.5 million federal grant to stay alive. But to land the grant, the
airport's pitch will have to top the pleas of three other struggling
Florida airports.

In applications to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Naples,
Marathon and Orlando Sanford airports contend that their air service has
suffered as much as -- or more than -- Sarasota-Bradenton.

"Naples has a population ready and financially able to fly," the city of
Naples Airport Authority wrote in its bid to the FAA for a Small
Community Air Service Development grant.

"Yet, prime passengers are forced to find alternatives because of the
lack of scheduled air service."

Florida's four grant applications are among the 108 that federal
officials will review before awarding grants later this year.

Last year, the FAA awarded close to $20 million to 39 airports or
airport consortiums in dozens of states. Although FAA rules allow up to
four grants per state, no state received more than one.

Naples, which will lose its last scheduled commercial air service when
Cape Air pulls out at the end of this month, is seeking $500,000 from
the federal government.

It plans to use the money, together with $952,000 in rent and landing
fee abatements and city fire services, to guarantee regional jet service
revenue.

Since 1995, seven commercial air carriers -- including American Eagle
and USAirways -- have pulled out of Naples, many in favor of the booming
Southwest Florida International Airport 35 miles away in Fort Myers.

Since 1999, the passenger count at the Naples airport has fallen 82
percent, to roughly 21,000 last year. By comparison, Southwest Florida
International had 726,000 passengers just last month.

Since 1999 Sarasota-Bradenton's passenger count has dropped 29.5
percent.

The local airport, like the one in Naples, is losing customers in the
midst of a population explosion.

Between 1993 and 2000, Collier County's population rose 59 percent,
according to U.S. Census figures. Another 25 percent increase is
expected before 2010.

At the same time, Collier attracts 1.3 million tourists annually.

Sarasota-Bradenton has linked with AirTran Airways in its bid for a
grant. Naples obtained an "expression of interest" from Delta Air Lines
to provide new service.

Naples wasn't the only airport to cite potential threats to Florida's
$70 billion tourism industry as the primary reason justifying FAA help.

Florida Keys Marathon Airport contends that visitors might decide to go
elsewhere unless it can relieve some of the congestion at the
"beleaguered" Key West International Airport, which is at full capacity
with about 600,000 passengers a year.

"This is a clear-cut case where the limited airport capacity is
threatening to cost the Florida Keys economy tourist dollars and local
jobs, and eventually tax dollars from the commerce these tourists would
produce," Monroe County officials wrote in their application.

Florida Keys Marathon Airport is seeking $750,000 from the FAA. It would
use the money in a $1.05 million program that would provide Delta
Connection with subsidies and "risk abatement" to fly to and from
Orlando.

"This proposal will significantly improve tourism access to the entire
length of the Florida Keys," the airport's proposal states.

Airport officials added that the Keys' 822 islands are heavily dependent
on the 3.1 million tourists who travel there each year. Tourism accounts
for 44,000 Keys jobs, the airport wrote.

If awarded, the grant could pump another $20 million into the Keys'
economy, the proposal states.

The Marathon airport hasn't had commercial air service since May 2000,
when American Eagle stopped flying there.

Orlando Sanford International Airport hopes to differentiate its bid by
not offering revenue guarantees.

"They are generally only effective for the time period that the
subsidies are offered by the airport," Orlando Sanford officials wrote.

"Revenue guarantees simply don't allow an airport to maintain direct
control over the use of the funds, which could lead to an inappropriate
usage of the funds for items unrelated to the actual service needed at
the airport," the airport's proposal said.

Instead, the airport's bid for $1.5 million in FAA funds would ramp up
advertising and marketing for start-up airline TransMeridian Airlines,
Pan American Airways and Vacation Express/Pace Airlines.

The three carriers have pledged to begin service to Worcester, Mass.;
Philadelphia; Hartford, Conn.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Cincinnati.

In addition to the grant funding, the Orlando Sanford community will
contribute $455,000, the proposal said.

But Orlando Sanford officials may have difficulty explaining higher
passenger counts at the airport, which primarily attracts charter
flights.

In its application, which was originally filed in June 2003 and wasn't
updated this year, the airport claims it experiences "insufficient
service."

In mid-April, though, Orlando Sanford officials reported a "new record
for the month of March," in which passenger counts jumped 148 percent
over the same period in 2003.

For the year ended in March, Orlando Sanford passenger traffic had risen
152 percent. The airport services about 1.26 million passengers
annually, one-fifth more than Sarasota-Bradenton.

"Once again, our airline partners have exceeded our expectations with
spectacular growth in March," Sanford Airport Authority President Larry
Dale said in a statement.

In contrast, Sarasota-Bradenton's grant bid says the airport has lost
nearly 1 million passengers since 1990, along with five major carriers.

Without a $1.5 million grant, the lion's share of a nearly $4 million
incentive package, the airport might not be able to make its
multimillion-dollar debt payments on bonds.

And none of the competitors' FAA applications can match
Sarasota-Bradenton in superlatives.

"The economic vitality of this facility is in serious jeopardy," Fred
Piccolo, Sarasota-Bradenton's president and chief executive, wrote in
the airport's bid.


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