"Gateway Airport mulls air service incentives"

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Gateway Airport mulls incentives 
Board seeking to lure passenger airlines
By Ginger D. Richardson and Art Thomason
The Arizona Republic


The five-member board that owns and operates Williams Gateway Airport in
Mesa is considering using economic incentives to try to lure passenger
airlines to the Valley.

The idea is expected to be a topic of much debate during the authority's
annual retreat Friday. It comes as Gateway continues to position itself as
the region's second commercial airport and a reliever to increasingly busy
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

For the most part, board members, including representatives from Mesa,
Gilbert, Queen Creek, Phoenix and the Gila River Indian Community, seem to
think it's a good idea.

They say that the use of incentives is common at other major airports and
that they are necessary to compete in today's environment. Such breaks,
however, don't have to include writing a check, officials said. Instead they
could focus on the reduction of upfront costs or marketing assistance.

"We live in a changing world," said Gilbert Mayor Steve Berman, chairman of
the Williams Gateway Airport Authority. "We're competing against places like
Orlando, Florida, and Plano, Texas, and they are giving incentives.

"I'm as tough as they get, but at some point we have to change or die, and
incentives are something we may have to consider."

An agenda prepared for the authority's retreat by Gateway Executive Director
Lynn Kusy notes, "Many communities, such as Rockford, Ill., and Naples,
Fla., have offered airlines revenue guarantees, marketing packages or
waivers of fees and charges."

Kusy is expected to ask the board to consider such specific incentives as
reducing or waiving fees for landing, terminal use and parking. 

Such incentives are common at even the nation's largest airports, including
Sky Harbor.

Sky Harbor has used similar tactics in its efforts to try to lure
international routes to the Valley. 

For example, the Phoenix airport might offer carriers who start service a
one-year, 50 percent discount to lease terminal facilities, said Paul Blue,
the airport's assistant aviation director.

Sky Harbor also has contributed to the initial marketing costs for new
routes, he said.

Phoenix officials say it makes sense for Gateway to consider such an option.

But, they cautioned, such incentives should be offered only after the
proposed route and market have been evaluated.

Mesa Mayor Keno Hawker expressed similar sentiments, saying that the airport
will have to look at what it gets in return for the breaks it gives.

But the bottom line, Blue said, is to remember that Williams Gateway isn't
the only airport looking for new business.

"I think when you are trying to grow a new airport, every strategy is worth
exploring," Blue said. "There are lots of communities in the same position. 

"It is absolutely a competition."

 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************