Airtran goes to Sarasota after taxpayers pony up
Airport lands $1.5M grant
Sarasota-Bradenton International intends to use the money to subsidize service by low-fare carrier AirTran.
BY KEVIN MCQUAID
SARASOTA -- Federal transportation officials Monday awarded a $1.5 million grant to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, money that officials contend will rescue the beleaguered air hub from more than a decade of losses.
The airport intends to use the money to subsidize service by low-fare carrier AirTran Airlines for one year, in the hope of driving down fares offered by competitors such as Delta Air Lines and US Airways.
Airport Chief Executive Fred Piccolo has said for months that the Small Community Air Service Development grant, if awarded, would be a watershed moment for Sarasota-Bradenton, which has lost multiple major carriers and 1 million passengers -- nearly half its total service -- since 1990.
"It's a critical piece of accelerating our future," Piccolo said last week of the grant.
The U.S. Department of Transportation grant represents the centerpiece of a nearly $4 million financial package the airport will provide AirTran.
The incentives include $500,000 in tax money from Sarasota and Manatee counties, which agreed to commit $250,000 each to the grant cause this spring. AirTran would use that money to help market new service to Sarasota-Bradenton.
The airline, in exchange, has provided the airport with a "letter of interest" that outlined potential new service.
AirTran officials said in May that if the grant application was successful it would bring a minimum of three flights a day, or 162,500 passengers, through Sarasota-Bradenton. In all, about 1 million passengers fly to and from Sarasota-Bradenton annually.
"The program is designed in a way to mitigate the risk of expansion," Kevin Healy, AirTran's vice president of planning and sales, said Monday. "In Sarasota, we believe we can grow the market substantially. This gives us the opportunity and the chance to try and prove it."
As part of AirTran's new service, the Orlando-based discount airline has indicated it will begin direct flights to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, in Linthicum, Md., and to Atlanta, by March.
AirTran has pledged to stay at the airport through September 2006, when Sarasota-Bradenton's commitments with major carriers such as Delta expire, a move that could help the airport in negotiations for future service.
At $1.5 million, Sarasota-Bradenton received the largest single grant of the $19.85 million awarded, and one of only three that were more than $1 million, federal documents show.
In all, the transportation agency awarded 40 grants to airports in 30 states, out of 108 applications.
Sarasota-Bradenton was the only Florida recipient, topping bids from airports in Sanford, Key West and Naples.
"This is the key," Piccolo said Monday evening. "Now, we need the community to buy into it and patronize the service. But I'm real pleased. It's wonderful."
This year's bid marked the third time Sarasota-Bradenton had sought a Small Community grant in the program's three years in existence.
In 2002 and 2003, it lost to Daytona Beach and Gainesville, respectively, in an effort to land $2 million to underwrite AirTran.
Federal officials, in awarding the grant to Sarasota and other airports for discount service, noted that the money would provide "a material benefit to a large segment of the traveling public."
For Sarasota-Bradenton, the grant comes at a pivotal time in its six-decade history, after years of declines, industry turmoil and airline restructuring.
Since 1990, nearly half of Sarasota-Bradenton's annual passenger count has shrunk, even as the population in Sarasota and Manatee counties has risen by nearly one-quarter.
In the same period, air carrier operations have shrunk 82 percent; five major carriers have abandoned the airport; and the number of cities served by nonstop flights has fallen by nearly three-quarters.
"The economic viability of this facility is in serious jeopardy," Piccolo wrote in Sarasota-Bradenton's grant application, in mid-May.
Piccolo suggested that the airport might even default on its annual $5.7 million bond obligation if it didn't receive a grant this year.
"Further decline in passenger traffic could endanger the airport's ability to meet their bond obligation," Piccolo wrote of Sarasota-Bradenton's $40 million in bonds, which mature in 2014.
Piccolo said last week that the statement about the bonds was "meant to scare a few people."
AirTran's subsidy isn't at all uncommon in the airline industry. Wichita, Kan., Tallahassee and Fort Wayne, Ind., have all provided AirTran with millions of dollars to jump-start or subsidize service.
"It's pay to play these days with airlines," said Michael Boyd, an air industry consultant.
For Sarasota-Bradenton, the grant caps more than $12 million in state and federal money awarded in the past month to improve security, taxiways and a clogged
intersection at U.S. 301 and University Parkway.
However, Piccolo admits hurdles remain, including securing a signed deal with AirTran.
AirTran, too, said Sarasota-Bradenton faces future obstacles.
"The airport's now gotta be ready to expand their parking lot," Healy said.
Airport lands $1.5M grant
Sarasota-Bradenton International intends to use the money to subsidize service by low-fare carrier AirTran.
BY KEVIN MCQUAID
SARASOTA -- Federal transportation officials Monday awarded a $1.5 million grant to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, money that officials contend will rescue the beleaguered air hub from more than a decade of losses.
The airport intends to use the money to subsidize service by low-fare carrier AirTran Airlines for one year, in the hope of driving down fares offered by competitors such as Delta Air Lines and US Airways.
Airport Chief Executive Fred Piccolo has said for months that the Small Community Air Service Development grant, if awarded, would be a watershed moment for Sarasota-Bradenton, which has lost multiple major carriers and 1 million passengers -- nearly half its total service -- since 1990.
"It's a critical piece of accelerating our future," Piccolo said last week of the grant.
The U.S. Department of Transportation grant represents the centerpiece of a nearly $4 million financial package the airport will provide AirTran.
The incentives include $500,000 in tax money from Sarasota and Manatee counties, which agreed to commit $250,000 each to the grant cause this spring. AirTran would use that money to help market new service to Sarasota-Bradenton.
The airline, in exchange, has provided the airport with a "letter of interest" that outlined potential new service.
AirTran officials said in May that if the grant application was successful it would bring a minimum of three flights a day, or 162,500 passengers, through Sarasota-Bradenton. In all, about 1 million passengers fly to and from Sarasota-Bradenton annually.
"The program is designed in a way to mitigate the risk of expansion," Kevin Healy, AirTran's vice president of planning and sales, said Monday. "In Sarasota, we believe we can grow the market substantially. This gives us the opportunity and the chance to try and prove it."
As part of AirTran's new service, the Orlando-based discount airline has indicated it will begin direct flights to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, in Linthicum, Md., and to Atlanta, by March.
AirTran has pledged to stay at the airport through September 2006, when Sarasota-Bradenton's commitments with major carriers such as Delta expire, a move that could help the airport in negotiations for future service.
At $1.5 million, Sarasota-Bradenton received the largest single grant of the $19.85 million awarded, and one of only three that were more than $1 million, federal documents show.
In all, the transportation agency awarded 40 grants to airports in 30 states, out of 108 applications.
Sarasota-Bradenton was the only Florida recipient, topping bids from airports in Sanford, Key West and Naples.
"This is the key," Piccolo said Monday evening. "Now, we need the community to buy into it and patronize the service. But I'm real pleased. It's wonderful."
This year's bid marked the third time Sarasota-Bradenton had sought a Small Community grant in the program's three years in existence.
In 2002 and 2003, it lost to Daytona Beach and Gainesville, respectively, in an effort to land $2 million to underwrite AirTran.
Federal officials, in awarding the grant to Sarasota and other airports for discount service, noted that the money would provide "a material benefit to a large segment of the traveling public."
For Sarasota-Bradenton, the grant comes at a pivotal time in its six-decade history, after years of declines, industry turmoil and airline restructuring.
Since 1990, nearly half of Sarasota-Bradenton's annual passenger count has shrunk, even as the population in Sarasota and Manatee counties has risen by nearly one-quarter.
In the same period, air carrier operations have shrunk 82 percent; five major carriers have abandoned the airport; and the number of cities served by nonstop flights has fallen by nearly three-quarters.
"The economic viability of this facility is in serious jeopardy," Piccolo wrote in Sarasota-Bradenton's grant application, in mid-May.
Piccolo suggested that the airport might even default on its annual $5.7 million bond obligation if it didn't receive a grant this year.
"Further decline in passenger traffic could endanger the airport's ability to meet their bond obligation," Piccolo wrote of Sarasota-Bradenton's $40 million in bonds, which mature in 2014.
Piccolo said last week that the statement about the bonds was "meant to scare a few people."
AirTran's subsidy isn't at all uncommon in the airline industry. Wichita, Kan., Tallahassee and Fort Wayne, Ind., have all provided AirTran with millions of dollars to jump-start or subsidize service.
"It's pay to play these days with airlines," said Michael Boyd, an air industry consultant.
For Sarasota-Bradenton, the grant caps more than $12 million in state and federal money awarded in the past month to improve security, taxiways and a clogged
intersection at U.S. 301 and University Parkway.
However, Piccolo admits hurdles remain, including securing a signed deal with AirTran.
AirTran, too, said Sarasota-Bradenton faces future obstacles.
"The airport's now gotta be ready to expand their parking lot," Healy said.
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