CAA: GA News, "Teterboro groundings pinch airport businesses"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wednesday, October 3, 2001

Teterboro groundings pinch airport businesses 
By ALEX NUSSBAUM and DANIEL SFORZA
The Bergen (NJ) Record


With Teterboro Airport still all but closed for security's sake,
businesses around the runways say they're in an economic nosedive as
well.

>From jet fuelers to caterers to limousine services, companies that rely
on the nation's third-largest corporate airfield said they've had to
curtail expenses and, by some accounts, even lay off workers while they
wait for the skies to reopen.

Their suffering pales compared with the loss of life from the Sept. 11
attacks, they say. Nonetheless, some companies estimate they have lost
half their business over the last three weeks.

"There's a feeling of helplessness," Joe Celentano, the co-founder of
Rudy's Inflight Catering, said Tuesday. "You know no matter how good
your product is or how good your workers are, there's nothing you can
do. If the airport's closed, it's closed."

A month ago, Rudy's would have been bustling on a weekday, hurriedly
preparing veal saltimbuco or a halibut with dill beurre blanc for the
well-heeled executives who jet out of Teterboro Airport.

But Tuesday, the company's kitchens were uncharacteristically quiet.
Rudy's has lost 45 percent to 55 percent of its business, Celentano
said, as customers were able to move their jets to Morristown,
Westchester County, or other airports under looser restrictions. The
Federal Aviation Administration said it may have security
recommendations for Teterboro this week. But when they would be
implemented, and when the airport could fully reopen, are unknown, a
spokesman said.

The restriction can't be lifted soon enough for the aviation community.
Takeoffs and landings are down as much as 90 percent, airport officials
said, and fuel sales, a mainstay of Teterboro's economy, are off by 60
percent to 70 percent.

"All of the revenue streams have been impacted dramatically," said Lanny
Rider, the airport's manager. "It can't last too much longer."

Since Sept. 11, the FAA has forbidden privately owned planes from flying
within 29 miles of Manhattan. Teterboro, its runways 12 miles from the
skyline, is trapped right in the middle of those restrictions.

The ban does not affect charter services, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said,
because they already follow strict security standards. Charter services
have to obey federal guidelines for screening passengers, checking bags,
and other precautions, he said.

But most of Teterboro's fleet consists of jets owned by huge
corporations in New York and North Jersey. The security rules for those
flights are less strict, so all remain grounded, the FAA says.

"It's a ripple effect for everybody," said a supervisor at Signature
Flight Support, which services those corporate planes. "It's very slow.
We're down 50 percent."

Among the hardest-hit are Teterboro's "fixed-base operators," Signature
and four other companies that store, clean, fuel, and deice private
planes, among other services.

Some businesses have laid off employees, said Celentano and the
Signature employee, who asked to remain anonymous. But Rider, the
airport manager, said he hasn't heard of any dismissals yet, though the
companies are asking workers to take sick days and vacation during the
downtime.

Rudy's has been luckier. While some travelers have taken their business
to nearby airports, Celentano's 103 employees already cater other
airports in the region, including Newark and La Guardia. Other
companies, from local hotels to Teterboro's hot dog vendor, are less
flexible.

"I don't think anyone's optimistic," Celentano said. "You wake up every
morning and wonder if they are going to lift these bans or not, and
nobody really knows."

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the airfield,
will do all it can to help, Rider said. The agency won't hassle tenants
about late rent, he said.

Because of the nature of flights at Teterboro -- mostly private planes
-- there are no metal detectors or requirement to X-ray luggage.

"Teterboro, by nature, is a safe airport," said Tom Carver of the New
Jersey Aviation Association, a business lobbyist. "It has fencing, Port
Authority police, and limited points of access. The corporate traffic is
all self-defined: People who own the aircraft also fly them and know
their passengers."

Still, security can be improved, Carver said. He suggested requiring all
airport employees to wear visible identification, posting no-trespassing
signs at airport perimeters, and finding a way to secure parked
aircraft.

But airport companies employ 1,250 people, managers for Teterboro-area
businesses said.

"If this was any other situation, I think you'd hear a lot more
complaining," said Celentano. "But none of us want to sound like cry
babies at a time like this. But it is a loss of a way of life for us."

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