"Stockton Airport's wings get clipped"

Wednesday, December 7, 2005 

Airport's wings get clipped 
Federal funds for Stockton facility will be cut until service increases
By Greg Kane
The Stockton (CA) Record


STOCKTON -- Stockton Metropolitan Airport will lose $850,000 in federal
grants every year until it resumes successful commercial airline passenger
service, the airport's director said Tuesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration told airport officials last week that an
annual payment of $1 million would be reduced to $150,000 because the
airport's annual passenger load had fallen below 10,000. The last time that
many people flew from the airport was 2003, the year America West Airlines
folded its Stockton-to-Phoenix operations.

That announcement came during a hearing in which the San Joaquin County
Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with Aeroméxico to provide
passenger service to Mexico beginning next year. Airport Director Barry
Rondinella said the FAA would restore the annual grants to $1 million once
the airport surpasses the 10,000-passenger threshold -- a figure it has
reached only three times in the past decade.

Rondinella believes Aeroméxico will bring the airport back to that level. If
it doesn't, however, airport officials could find themselves without a major
source of revenue for improvements at the south Stockton complex.

The board also approved an agreement Tuesday with U.S. Customs and Border
Protection to build and staff an inspection terminal required for
international flights. But a $2 million loan from the San Joaquin Council of
Governments to build the customs area will be returned, because airport
officials had planned to pay it back using the federal money it is no longer
eligible to receive.

The customs terminal instead will be built using money set aside for two
other projects: the expansion of an air-cargo area and the purchase of an
emergency-response vehicle for the airport. Those projects will be put on
hold until the full federal funding resumes in a few years, Rondinella said.

Although the suspended projects would have provided needed space for
wide-body planes and replaced aging firetrucks at the airport, the need to
get passenger service off the ground is more pressing, Rondinella said.

"Doing this project allows us to do all those other projects in the future,"
Rondinella said.

Aeroméxico wants to provide at least three round-trip flights a week from
Stockton to two Mexican cities: Guadalajara and Morelia. A second
international carrier, Mexicana Airlines, has also expressed interest in
providing flying between Guadalajara and Stockton.

The board agreed to move ahead with the plan despite reservations from some
about the airport's ability to turn a profit with passenger service.
Supervisor Victor Mow said the county has been burned in the past by
airlines -- most recently America West -- that agreed to provide service
only to back out when the business wasn't there.

Officials estimate the airport will lose more than $1 million in the first
few years of passenger service because of customs staffing and operational
costs. Supervisor Leroy Ornellas said he fears Aeroméxico or another airline
could leave the airport before the business turns profitable, leaving the
county in debt.

"I'm troubled by the fact that the county could be on the hook for
millions," Ornellas said.

Juan Garcia, Aeroméxico's marketing director, told the board the airline
intends to stay committed to Stockton and could even expand to six flights a
week. The airline plans to market Stockton's proximity to Yosemite National
Park, San Francisco and other Northern California attractions to increase
flights going both ways.

"We believe there is a lot of business, not only from here to Mexico, but
from Mexico to here," Garcia said.

Garcia said Aeroméxico likely would begin flying passengers from Stockton
next summer, when the customs area is expected to be completed.

Attached Photo:

Until business at Stockton Metropolitan Airport, above, picks up, the
facility will lose $850,000 a year in federal funds.

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