Category Archives: Air Service Development

Airport Improvements

Airport Improvements Don’t Always Lead to Air Service

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Airport Improvements Don’t Always Lead to Air Service

Airport improvements don’t always lead to air service. Has your community built a terrific airport facility including a modern and updated terminal or recently renovated your facilities with the expectation of getting commercial airline service? Airport improvements don’t always lead to air service.

You’ve made Airport Improvements…
Have you acquired your commercial airline service yet?
If you are a small or medium-sized community the answer is very likely NO!

Contrary to some opininons…the Airline Industry and the airlines that offer flights commercially from point A to point B are NOT a Public Utility or a Not For Profit Business…Airlines operate to MAKE A PROFIT. Airport improvements don’t guarantee an airline profits and in fact may add more costs to your communities air service. MAKING A PROFIT IS THE MAIN GOAL OF AN AIRLINE NONETHELESS! If they felt your community was a shoe-in as a profitable route…well you’d likely already have the air service with them. A prettier terminal is not going to drive airline profitability.

NO COMMUNITIES AIRPORT IS ENTITLED TO COMMERCIAL AIRLINE SERVICE JUST BECAUSE THE AIRPORT IS THERE, THEY’VE MADE AIRPORT IMPROVEMENTS AND THE COMMUNITY WANTS SERVICE!

Has your community fervently pursued air service to no avail? If so…your not alone. In the last couple of years Hundreds of communities (Mostly Small Communities) have lost air service…many have lost all commercial airline service!

COMMUNITIES DON’T ALWAYS GET THE COMMERCIAL AIRLINE SERVICE THEY DESERVE BUT THEY CAN GET THE COMMERCIAL AIRLINE SERVICE THEY INVEST IN!

Community Flights believes you should answer the following Air Service questions:

What is a community to do to gain and sustain commercial air service or build up more air service to your community?

What are the airlines looking for when they consider whether to serve a community?

What are present industry trends and how do they impact efforts to get air service to small and/or medium-sized communities?

Should my community get into a risk abatement program with an airline and offer a guarantee to get desired service?

If yes how long should a risk abatement program go on and how should success be measured?

Air Service means critical access to the national transportation system and provides a large amount of positive economic impacts …what are the things a small community could and/or should do to attract air service?
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The above and other questions and topics will all be introduced and discussed on the Community Flights website.

While I am a professional working in this industry I don’t claim to have all the answers. Frankly, I feel any consultant or professional who claims to have all the answers really doesn’t know this industry well at all as it is a complicated quickly changing industry and there is no set path to success. There are general actions and approaches that your community should take to give you the best chance for success but nothing in this industry is certain. Like airplanes themselves…air service development is often dealing with a moving target.
 
scott@communityflights.com is my email address should you want to discuss air service development approaches and issues outside a public forum. I’m glad you found my blog and Happy Landings!
One Air Service Acquisition Requirement

One Air Service Acquisition Requirement You Must Meet

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One Air Service Acquisition Requirement

Your Target Aircraft Type Can Operationally Fly In to Your Airport!

One Air Service Acquisition Requirement is that your target plane type can operationally fly into your airport. That’s right…many an “Air Service Development Plan” falters because the airport to which a community is trying to attract commercial airline service to…has operational characteristics that prevent service by the plane and airline market they are looking to attract. The operational ability of aircraft to fly to your airport is the one air service need that is required.

Airline guarantees, subsidies, marketing or other incentives are inconsequential to your airline service development efforts if the One Air Service Acquisition Requirement is not present. That’s right…many an “Air Service Development Plan” falters when your airport cannot operational accept the airline/aircraft your community is targeting!

When you don’t meet the One Air Service Acquisition Requirement of Airline Operational Conditions, while often difficult to understand, it can make the answer easy to a communities pursuit for airline service when the answer is no. An airlines first priority is to offer SAFE transportation from point A to point B. If the airport has a short runway for its elevation or obstacles that force extreme take-off or landing situations that an aircraft cannot handle then an airline can’t viably serve you. If the airline can make it in and out of an airport but has to restrict airline seats it can sell, then this too can prevent an airline from coming to your community.

Airlines are commercial enterprises and as such need to earn a profit to stay in business. When you don’t meet the one air service acquisition requirement you will either get no air service or this will drive a restriction on how many seats an airline can sell and it can make the service economically untenable if the level of restriction impedes the ability to make a profit.

      Aspen Colorado, (http://www.aspenairport.com/ ) recognized the one air service acquisition requirement in its effort to get a runway extension recently. Aspen noted that the runway extension was not so much about getting new plane types and markets but in being able to fill in more seats on present plane and markets that were flying into the airport. At over 8000 feet elevation and with a 7000 foot runway in the summer particularly and from longer distances (Over 1000 Miles) the CRJ700 aircraft flying into Aspen takes seat restrictions on their flights (Particularly in the heat of summer) that jeopardize  the capabilities of some of their flights to fly profitably. Atlanta in particular, a service they have had, is in jeopardy of not continuing due to the seat restrictions the airport is experiencing. Even if the Aspen community were to consider revenue guarantees to continue this Atlanta service (And they are not…Aspen doesn’t guarantee any service)…the seat restriction issue due to its operational challenges makes Aspen a difficult airport for the service to continue to.
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Charlottesville Virginia (http://www.gocho.com/ ) is another community that is losing service due to airport operational restrictions (Also short runway length for the elevation level of the airport) and not meeting the one air service acquisition requirement. A direct flight to Detroit recently got cancelled due to a short runway. Often a 50 seat regional jet could only fill 35 seats when it was hot. Even at 640 feet elevation instead of 8000 feet like Aspen, Charlottesville experiences situations where the airport needs either more runway length or needs its plane to have less weight on takeoff. The airport is presently looking at an 800 foot runway extension to take care of this issue so it can try to regain service to Detroit.
So…the first question that a community and airport should ask as it regards your airport and gaining airline service is: “What aircraft can operationally fly into our airport and from the markets that you want air service from?!” Communities and airports should address the issue of the one air service  acquisition requirement upfront.Additionally the community air service development effort should consider…does the airlines we’re  considering approaching about airline service have these aircraft in the markets within a range where they can safely and economically sustainably serve your community?
If the answer is no…then you need to consider other market service options or look at the airport infrastructure (Runway Length, Elevation, Obstacles etc…)  and improve the conditions of the airport to expand the plane types and mileage ranges of these aircraft that can service your community. You need to meet the one air service acquisition requirement.
I know from personal experience that some airline service cannot be obtained due to operation restrictions. In Telluride, Colorado we have the highest commercial airport in the United States at over 9000 feet elevation. Unfortunately, we can’t lower the mountain. We can look at runway length and approaches which we are doing. Additionally we’re clarifying the plane and mileage ranges these plane can fly in from so that we don’t waste our time pursuing aircraft that cannot sustainably fly into Telluride.
Recommendation: Save yourself some trouble…check to insure you can meet the One Air Service Acquisition Requirement…1) know what is possible aircraft and market/distance from airport-wise and 2) Focus on airlines that could offer service from those markets as targets for your air service acquisition efforts.
      For help with your air service development, management or support and/or economic optimization contact scott@communityflights.com