[Archive Home][Date Prev][Date Next][Index]
"Detroit airport facility funding plan irks carriers"
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Airport facility funding plan irks carriers
8 Detroit Metro firms oppose paying for $28M transportation center with
naming rights.
By Andy Henion
The Detroit (MI) News
The eight carriers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport object to an airport plan
to pay for a $28 million ground transportation center by selling the
facility's naming rights.
"The risk associated with (building) a facility without having the funding
sources committed is unacceptably high," the carriers say in a Tuesday
letter to Michael Glusac, chairman of the Wayne County Airport Authority.
The authority board is scheduled to vote today to fund the transportation
center, which will be next to the fast-rising North Terminal.
The airlines, which pay some $92 million a year in airport revenue, want the
matter delayed until a solution is reached.
Glusac said Tuesday afternoon that he hadn't seen the letter and couldn't
say whether the vote would proceed.
"While we appreciate the concerns of the airlines -- and we will take that
into consideration -- to begin the transportation center at this time is
important to make sure we have these things come on line roughly at the same
time as the terminal," he said.
The $418 million North Terminal is on budget and on schedule to open in late
summer 2008, airport spokesman Michael Conway said earlier this week. He did
not return a call Tuesday seeking comment on the transportation center.
When completed, the North Terminal will stretch a half-mile and house 26
gates. More than 4 million passengers are expected to pass through in 2009.
The letter is signed by Mary Loeffelholz, a Northwest Airlines official and
chairwoman of the Detroit Airline and Airport Affairs Committee, and
representatives from Continental, Spirit, Southwest, American, Delta, United
and UPS.
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
*****************************************
Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
If you have any queries regarding this issue, please Email us at stepheni@cwnet.com