"Mineta San Jose Airport offers fee waiver in bid to lure new air service"

Friday, May 12, 2006

Mineta Airport offers fee waiver in bid to lure new routes
By Andrew F. Hamm
The San Jose (CA) Business Journal


In an effort to spur airline traffic, Mineta San Jose International
officials are offering to waive all landing fees and terminal rents for up
to one year for airlines that add flights to certain cities.

Passenger numbers at Mineta have been stuck at about 11 million passengers
annually, 20 percent below pre-Sept. 11, 2001 levels.

The incentive program, still in its formation, would include free marketing
from the San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau and the San Jose Silicon
Valley Chamber of Commerce to boost passenger numbers for non-stop flights
to a desired city.  The landing fees and terminal rent alone would be worth
in excess of $1 million annually per assigned flight.

"The first year of a startup flight is a risky proposition for an airline,"
says William Sherry, aviation director for Mineta San Jose International
Airport.  "This program means, for all intents and purposes, that they fly
for free."

Mineta San Jose officials are primarily targeting international travel.
Besides Mexico, the airport's only international destination now is an
American Airlines flight to Tokyo.

The airport has not yet selected which cities it will target for the
promotion.  Mr. Sherry says it will seek suggestions from business
organizations and the general public.  Some suggestions include Paris,
Taiwan, Hong Kong, Dublin and London, as well as some domestic destinations
such as Detroit, Miami and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber will be conducting a survey of its
members to find out which cities they would like Mineta San Jose to connect
with.

But developing incentive programs lucrative enough to catch airline
attention will be tough, says Terry Trippler, airline specialist for
Cheapseats Inc.

"Geographically, San Jose is being nailed," Mr. Trippler says.  "It'll be
hard to compete against (San Francisco International Airport.)"

The thinking is that the further one flies, the less important airport
location becomes.

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