"North Carolina Airport Marketing Takes flight"

Sunday, April 9, 2006

Airport Marketing Takes flight 
By SUE BOOK 
The New Bern (NC) Sun Journal


Craven facility looks to spend $75,000 to attract passengers 

Rick Keehn took a few moments to look at the history of flight exhibit as he
sipped coffee and awaited an outbound flight at Craven County Regional
Airport Thursday.

His bags were checked for a business trip, like those the manufacturing
engineer and his coworkers at Chatsworth Products in New Bern frequently
take to company facilities in Texas and California. 

Keehn sometimes flies from Raleigh or Kinston, depending on scheduling
constraints, but he likes flying from New Bern best, he said. 

"There is never a line," he said. " . Security is easy in and out . Parking
long term is a fair price, and I never worry about the vehicle." 

He enjoys wireless Internet access at the airport, and is particularly happy
that when the plane lands, he's 10 minutes from his home of the past 3 1/2
years. 

Keehn's list of reasons why he prefers flying from New Bern could almost
make him the poster person for a marketing program the airport has launched
and hopes to pursue more vigorously starting in June with a $75,000 budget
approved in principle in March. 

Chatsworth Products Inc. and other area businesses participated in a recent
travel survey of business travel needs. 

"It became obvious to us we could not sit in a vacuum and decide needs long
term without asking the people who use the place," said Bill Naumann, who
heads the airport authority marketing committee. "The staff interviewed
everyone who departed the airport for five weeks." 

The business survey was mailed to 500 small and large businesses, a third of
which responded. 

"We concluded that we have underused and underappreciated the facility in
our backyard - the best airport in eastern North Carolina," said Naumann.
"And, like it or not, other airport options should be viewed as competitors,
and we should work to get those people here." 

The information gathered identified passengers here as affluent, educated
and price conscious and will steer the marketing plan, developed for the
airport by Lisa Rowe-Ralls. 

Rowe-Ralls identified objectives that included customer focus and heightened
exposure as a way to ensure growth. 

The growth objective is a 5 percent year-over-year increase in those
boarding, which prior to the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001 was almost a given. 

Boardings at the airport were up 6.1 percent in 2005 over 2004, two percent
higher than the national average. 

With national flight numbers declining, regional competition increasing, and
wartime deployments decreasing the area traveling population, however, the
airport is experiencing boarding declines in 2006 - 12.7 percent in January
and 11.6 percent in February. 

"We have had five consecutive months of negative enplanements year over
year," said Rowe-Ralls, when the national numbers show slight .2 percent
decline. 

She said fares out of Craven are comparable to other area airports. Though
flights from Raleigh are cheaper, she said the time and gas needed to drive
there evens out the fares. 

Rowe-Ralls said the primary lure of other airports for the region's
departing air travelers is access to a hub other than Charlotte for
connections. 

But for those traveling to New Bern, the main reason for choosing another
airport is they aren't familiar with Craven County Regional Airport, she
said. 

"And, any successful business needs to understand and stay connected with
its customer base," said Naumann. 

Both feel Craven, Pamlico, Carteret and Jones counties - and some travelers
in Jacksonville, Greenville and Kinston - are part of the appropriate
customer base. 

Marketing is set to begin with billboards, not unlike those near the airport
trying to send travelers to Kinston. Those same "Fly Kinston" billboards got
authority members thinking about telling their own story. 

The plan would have airport staff and authority members getting the word out
by speaking to area groups and inviting them in, sometimes in connection to
scheduled regional events. 

Rowe-Ralls advises print and radio advertising as well as working with US
Airways and area travel agents on promotions that could include airline
ticket prizes. 

"I think we have an exciting story to tell," said Naumann. "And I think
there are people out there who will listen." 

It is a challenge the airport authority sees as critical to its success.

Attached Photo:

Karen Wasiak, of Fort Worth, Texas, shares a laugh with Beverly Barber, US
Airways ramp supervisor, as she checks in for her flight home at the Craven
Regional Airport in New Bern. Wasiak, who was in town for business, said she
found it easier to fly directly in and out of New Bern as opposed to one of
the other regional airports.

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