"Florida airport grabs for grant"

Thursday, February 24, 2005

County airport grabs for grant
The St. Petersburg (FL) Times 


The possibility of a $3.9-million state grant could help the St.
Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport stop the financial bleeding from
the loss of two major airlines within two weeks. 

Tuesday night, the Pinellas County Commission directed the airport to apply
for the Florida Department of Transportation grant designated for airports
adversely affected by Sept. 11. The grant represents more than a third of
the airport's $9-million yearly budget. 

In late March, Air Transit Airlines announced it had filed for bankruptcy
and would end service at the airport in mid April. A week later, Southeast
Airlines abruptly stopped operations. 

Air Transit Airlines listed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as a
reason for its financial demise, said airport director Noah Lagos. 

"We feel that's a strong enough link that we would let them use some of the
money under this provision for their operations," said John Roeller,
aviation programs administrator for the Department of Transportation's
District 7, which covers Pinellas, Hillsborough, Hernando, Pasco and Citrus
counties.

"I don't see any reason for me not to approve it." 

In November 2001, the state passed legislation allowing airports to apply
for grants to cover operating, capital and security expenses if they could
prove they lost revenue because of Sept. 11. The bill expires June 30, 2007.


"We met with the governor in November 2001 and outlined what we could do to
help the industry," Lagos said. "This provides a lifeline." 

St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport has lost an estimated 70
percent of its business in the past 60 days, said Jeff Noa, deputy director
of finance for the airport. 

The grant is almost guaranteed because awarding it would simply mean a
transfer of funds. The state awarded the county a $7-million grant in April
1998 for terminal expansion. With the decline in service, about $5-million
of those funds were never used. 

"Since we're not doing a large terminal expansion, that would qualify we
were in a position that we might lose the money," Lagos said. "We needed to
find a way to reprogram those funds so we could keep them." 

Applying for the grant is not the only cost-saving measure the airport is
employing. 

Six full-time positions in operations and facility maintenance have been
frozen, Noa said. The budget for fiscal 2006, which begins in October and
ends Sept. 2006, will be cut by at least $300,000. 

"It's challenging, but we've been through it before... I've been here 27
years, through the ups and downs," said Noa, noting that People Express
Airlines pulled out of the airport in the early 1980s, followed by Northeast
Airlines. 

The grant application comes on the heels of an announcement by Lehigh Valley
Air, a Pennsylvania-based startup air service, that it would begin service
in March from Allentown, Pa., to St. Petersburg-Clearwater International and
Fort Lauderdale International airports. 

The airport now has six airlines and expects to service about 550,000
passengers this year, compared with 1.3-million passengers last year.


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