"So long, Southwest? Boeing Field beckons"

Sunday, July 10, 2005

So long, Southwest? Boeing Field beckons Potential move from Sea-Tac fits
airline BY JOHN GILLIE The Tacoma (WA) News Tribune


When Boeing Field Director Bob Burke was an executive with Stewart
International Airport north of New York City several years ago, he played a
key role in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to persuade Southwest Airlines
to make Stewart its New York-area destination. 

Now Burke has another chance at Southwest.

The airline initiated talks more than a year ago with Burke and others to
move its Puget Sound-area destination to Boeing Field from Sea-Tac Airport.
The existence of those talks was made public last month. 

Will Burke strike out again, or will Southwest - Sea-Tac's fourth-largest
airline tenant - make the move to the Seattle airfield that Burke manages?

Burke didn't initiate the conversation with Southwest, but he is
aggressively pursuing the airline's interest.

He makes the case that Boeing Field almost perfectly fits the airport
profile Southwest has used to its advantage around the country. The airline,
the nation's most profitable, avoids such high-cost airports as San
Francisco and Denver while serving cheaper fields, such as Oakland,
Houston's Hobby Airport, Dallas' Love Field and Chicago's Midway Airport.

Southwest is expected to make a more specific proposal to King County before
the end of the month. It's expected to contain Southwest's plan to expand
Boeing Field's terminal and parking and its plan to pay for those
improvements.

The Dallas-based airline's willingness to finance airfield improvements
itself is a testament to how neatly Boeing Field fits its requirements for a
low-cost operation near downtown Seattle.

Boeing Field's advantages

Consider how the airfield - the axis of Puget Sound-area commercial
passenger service from its opening in 1928 to 1947, when Sea-Tac opened -
stacks up against other airports in major urban areas: 

Longer runway: Its main runway at 10,000 feet is longer and wider than any
runway at such busy airline destinations as Chicago's Midway Airport (6,500
feet), Houston's Hobby Airport (7,600 feet), New York's LaGuardia Airport
(7,000 feet) and Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport (6,900 feet). 

Clear flight paths: Boeing Field's airborne approaches skirt the high-priced
residential and business real estate of Seattle. Some older city airports
have approach paths over residential areas.

Boeing Field's northern approach is mostly over water and the Duwamish
industrial area. Part of its southern traffic pattern passes over the
distribution warehouses in Tukwila and Kent.

In contrast, several of the approaches to Dallas' Love Field, Southwest's
home field, pass near some of the most exclusive residential real estate in
Dallas: tony Highland Park.

Close to downtown: Boeing Field is closer to downtown Seattle (five miles)
than Hobby Airport is to downtown Houston (seven miles), Chicago's Midway is
to the Loop (10 miles), Burbank Airport is to downtown Los Angeles (15
miles) and La Guardia is to midtown Manhattan (nine miles).

Transportation hub: The general aviation airport, formally known as King
County International Airport, is adjacent to the West Coast's busiest
freeway, Interstate 5. It borders the BNSF Railway's main line, which
carries commuters and long-distance rail passengers south to Tacoma and
Portland and north to Seattle, Everett and Vancouver, B.C. The Port of
Seattle's three cruise ship piers are a quick cab ride from the airport.

In contrast, reaching Chicago's Midway Airport by car requires travel over a
network of city streets to reach the nearest expressway. 

Quick flight turnarounds: Boeing Field's compact size keeps aircraft taxiing
times low, a fact that would help any airline get its planes back into the
air more quickly than at such vast aerodromes as Denver International
Airport or Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, where taxiing can consume 20 minutes
or more before takeoff and after landing.

Southwest prides itself with getting its aircraft back into the air in less
than 30 minutes.

Air traffic experience: Boeing Field's neighbors are accustomed to aircraft
noise.

The airfield is one of the nation's busiest general aviation airports, with
nearly 300,000 landings and takeoffs last year. That traffic consists of a
wide variety of aircraft, from Boeing 747s and 777s to two-person
propeller-driven aircraft.

The Boeing Co. uses Boeing Field as a testing and delivery center for its
Commercial Aircraft Division, and air express companies UPS and DHL base
their Seattle operations there. The airport is a major corporate aircraft
base for jets and helicopters from local companies. The field also plays
host to visiting dignitaries, from President Bush to sports teams and
corporate chieftains.

Money boost: For Boeing Field, Southwest's potential move could be a
financial windfall.

The airport makes money from ground leases and from a fee on refueling done
at the airport. Those sources of money are enough to pay Boeing Field's
operational costs, but they fall short of paying the full cost of capital
improvements, Burke said.

Southwest's move could help pay those costs, he said.

Officials have not released specific financial projections.

Boeing Field's disadvantages

To make the deal happen, King County and Southwest will have to deal with
everything from inadequate facilities to traffic snarls. The deal is
attracting a growing list of detractors, including County Council members,
other airlines, the Port of Seattle and Eastern Washington airports that
worry about the diminishment of connections at Sea-Tac.

Consider their objections:

Passenger overload: Boeing Field's passenger infrastructure is inadequate
for the 2.5 million or more passengers Southwest would handle there each
year.

The field's restored 1930-vintage terminal works well for the three small
local commuter airlines operating there, but Southwest would overwhelm its
facilities. The vintage terminal has no baggage explosives detection
machines, no large baggage claim carousels and no covered walkways from the
terminal to the planes.

A new terminal or terminal addition would have to be built to handle the
influx of passengers.

Smaller airports have coped with sudden increases in passenger volumes with
temporary measures. 

In Long Beach, Calif., for instance, JetBlue Airways installed eight modular
terminal trailers joined to create a temporary terminal when the airline
created its West Coast hub. Passengers cross the tarmac from the terminal to
stairs leading to the jets, a solution better suited for Southern California
than Seattle.

But JetBlue and its passengers are tiring of the temporary quarters and are
lobbying for the airport to build a permanent addition. Neighborhood groups
don't want the airport to build as large a terminal as JetBlue says it
needs. They fear a larger terminal will lead to more noisy flights.

King County says it doesn't want to spend its own money to expand a
terminal. 

Southwest has hinted it will pay up front. That's what Southwest did in
Islip, N.Y., the Long Island airport 60 miles east of Manhattan that beat
Stewart to become Southwest's New York destination. Southwest paid $55
million to build an addition to the terminal.

Parking hassles: Boeing Field terminal parking is free. The few hundred
spots in a surface lot are taken up by airport workers and patrons of the
three small airlines. Southwest's projected 40 flights a day would require
construction of a parking garage or a shuttle to distant surface lots.

Neighbor conflicts: At its peak, Boeing Field handled some 425,000 landings
and takeoffs a year. That number has dropped to about 300,000 because of
reduced sales of commercial aircraft at Boeing and generally lower business
activity.

But despite the reduction in operations, neighborhood groups already are
calling for noise mitigation measures if the airport becomes a commercial
passenger airport of size.

At Sea-Tac, said spokesman Bob Parker, the Port of Seattle has spent $500
million in recent years to buy and demolish near-airport homes and to
sound-insulate schools and homes from aircraft noise. King County has made
no similar effort at Boeing Field. 

Clogged roadways: Passenger access looms large as an issue. Despite its
proximity to I-5, Boeing Field's freeway connections were designed for a
fraction of the traffic new passenger service would generate.

A two-lane road, Perimeter Road South, connects the terminal to the freeway
entrances. And reaching those entrances requires navigating a path with
multiple turns and doglegs.

Despite the proximity of the BNSF main line, the airport has no commuter
rail station.

In contrast, two freeway routes - Highway 509 and Highway 518 - serve
Sea-Tac. And Sound Transit is planning a light-rail station to connect the
airport with downtown Seattle.

Rival airline opposition: Sea-Tac's biggest customer, locally headquartered
Alaska Air Group, vehemently opposes Southwest's move.

The move would shift costs at Sea-Tac to the airlines remaining there.
Alaska alone would see its costs rise by $11 million annually.

Alaska has threatened to move some of its flights to Boeing Field if
Southwest moves there. Alaska spokeswoman Amanda Tobin said other airlines
have now said they'll do likewise. If they do, Boeing Field could become
overcome with new traffic. Airport managers from Pasco and Yakima have waded
into the fray on Alaska's side.

Scarce services: Support services are inadequate at Boeing Field. Hotel
rooms are scarce nearby, as are rental car operations, restaurants, service
stations and other airport amenities.

Political opposition: The Port of Seattle, Sea-Tac's owner, won't allow a
major tenant that had pledged to support the airport's expensive expansion
to slip away easily just when the bills come due for such improvements as
the new A concourse, the new central terminal and the controversial third
runway. And the port is lobbying behind the scenes with the King County
Council to block the move. Southwest already has used the threat of moving
or reducing its operations to force another look at ambitious expansion
plans for San Jose's Norman Mineta Airport. 

Sea-Tac executives say they've already trimmed operational expenses and
mothballed expansion plans to meet airlines' needs to save money in the
competitive airline environment. A planned satellite terminal north of the
present north satellite was dropped from Sea-Tac expansion plans last year
to save money. Instead the airport plans to extend the D concourse as
airline needs require.

What's next

Southwest isn't yet saying what sort of proposition it plans to make to King
County for Boeing Field.

But the airline, which for the first time in years has launched a major
lobbying effort to expand its operations at its home airport in Dallas,
clearly is dedicated to creating a cost advantage in Seattle, say Southwest
executives.

After this month's proposal hits the table, expect the debate to intensify.
County leaders have promised public hearings.

And if the deal goes through, it would take three to four years before
Southwest could make the move to Boeing Field. 

Boeing Field PROS, CONS

Yes:

 . Longer runway in place

 . Clear flight paths

 . Five miles from downtown Seattle

 . Transportation hub

 . Quick flight turnarounds

 . Air traffic experience

 . Money boost

No:

 . Passenger overload

 . Parking hassles

 . Neighbor conflicts

 . Clogged roadways

 . Rival airline opposition

 . Political opposition 

Attached Photo:

Boeing Field could be the latest lower-cost alternative airport for
no-frills carrier Southwest Airlines, which is exploring such a move.

BIZ0710_BOEING_P.jpg