"Illinois airport readies for global routes"

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Airport readies for global routes
An international gate gets a green light.
By ADAM LOWENSTEIN
The Rockford (IL) Register Star


ROCKFORD -- Come February, a gateway to the world will sit just a few
hundred yards from the terminal at Greater Rockford Airport. 

On the outside, it will look like the two-story airport administration
building. But inside will be a 10,000-square-foot arrival area featuring
uniform-clad federal inspectors greeting international travelers and
ushering them through customs as they arrive in Rockford. 

These Federal Inspection Service officers are required at any airport
that serves international travelers. What Rockford's airport needed to
get them here was the appropriate facility and plans for international
service. 

One of those necessities was handled in a special meeting Thursday. The
other is still a work in progress. 

On Thursday, the Airport Board approved seeking bids for remodeling a
service bay in the building into the international inspection area. The
project is estimated to cost between $500,000 and $650,000, with 90
percent of that coming from federal aviation entitlements and the rest
from the airport's capital fund. 

Details are still being finalized, but the new space will be equipped to
handle up to 200 passengers and will feature bathrooms, a baggage claim,
counters for federal inspectors and an area where passengers can be
interviewed or detained. 

The gate in the administration building will be used for three to five
years. If international air service is strong enough at the end of that
time, a permanent arrival and inspection area will likely be built in or
attached to the 70,000-square-foot terminal, said Nick Ancona, an
Airport Board member and past chairman. Then again, the temporary gate
is being designed to allow for the space to be returned to
administrative use if international service fails to materialize.

That's a chance the board was willing to take, Ancona said.

"We still have to keep going forward on everything. This is one more
step in that direction," he said. "We have to do it. We're going to fail
sometimes, but if you don't try, you're not going to get anything."

Airport Executive Director Bob O'Brien agreed the international gate
represents a major step forward for the airport as it works to bring in
more passenger service and change its perception in the industry from a
local, puddle-jumper operation to a thriving regional travel center.

"Once we get discovered, then people are going to be freaking out in
various airlines. They're going to be saying, 'What the hell is going on
in Rockford?' " he said.

As for the second part of this equation - actually having international
passenger air service to take advantage of the new arrival area - that
takes a bit more doing than a unanimous board vote.

Discussions late last year between Rockford and the Hungarian airline
Malev led to a "verbal agreement in principal" in January to offer
nonstop service from Rockford to Budapest, but it never got beyond that
point, and service from June through August - the peak season - never
came to be.

The agreement served another purpose, however: It indicated to federal
officials that Rockford was close to getting international service.

O'Brien said Malev could still bring its service to Rockford. "As (the
peak season) comes back around, we will evaluate Budapest," he said.

A more realistic starting point appears to be service to Mexico, Cancun
and the Caribbean. O'Brien said there are "airline entities" that have
expressed an interest in operating along those routes if the airport
provides the facilities.

Ancona said he does not expect regular international service right away
but does envision chartered flights.

"That could be very feasible," he said.


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