What's this? Delta wants a 1M guarantee to fly to LAN!

[canyonblue]

Airport pursues Atlanta flights
Capital City may guarantee Delta $1 million



By Stefanie Murray
Lansing State Journal

Capital City Airport could land two daily flights to Atlanta on Delta Air Lines as soon as August.

The airport's authority board approved a measure Tuesday authorizing airport Executive Director Robert Selig to work on a contract with Delta for an Atlanta service that includes a $1 million revenue guarantee for the airline.

Money for the one-year guarantee would come from the airport's 2005-06 Ingham County tax levy and would be paid only if the route wasn't profitable for Delta.

"Delta thinks this service will work," Selig said. "The honest goal, by both us and the airline, is that we're not going to spend anything."

The board is expected to vote on the contract at its February meeting.

Securing service to Atlanta would be a boon to Capital City, which recently lost the low-fare startup Independence Air.

Atlanta, a Delta hub, was the world's busiest passenger airport in 2003, serving 79.1 million passengers with flights to 200 cities on 26 airlines.

Joy Thrun, who owns Classic Travel in Okemos, said she sends a lot of customers to Atlanta on Delta for connecting flights to the Caribbean and Hawaii. Her passengers travel through Detroit or Grand Rapids.

"I think this would be a very successful move for Lansing," Thrun said. "We have to get some more service in here."

Delta currently runs five daily flights from Lansing to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport through its subsidiary Comair. The new flights also would be flown by a regional carrier such as Comair and use 50-seat regional jets, Selig said.

Comair spokesman Nick Miller said he was not aware of the deal, but said Delta normally does not comment when a deal is reached.

Selig said it'll cost the airline about $5.4 million to get the Atlanta route running for a year. The airline is estimating it could pull in revenue of $4.9 million a year on the route, he said.

If the revenue guarantee is approved next month, it will be the first time that Capital City - the fourth-largest airport in Michigan - has offered a guarantee to a carrier.

The airport's total operating budget this year is $6.8 million and the Ingham County tax levy for the airport is 0.47 mill, or about $3 million. That money is usually used for such things as airline incentives and capital improvements.

"I think the reason we set up the airline incentive program was exactly for something like this, to get service that's attractive to our customers," said Victor Celentino, an airport authority board member and Ingham County commissioner. The revenue guarantee is "not a great thing, but a realistic thing," he said.

An Atlanta route would bring the total number of cities served by Capital City to eight and the total number of daily weekday flights to almost 50. It also could help bring back passengers lost when Independence Air left.

More than 650,000 people used Capital City in 2004, nearly a 22 percent increase from 2003.

Selig said he'll spend the next month gauging community backing for the new route.

Or could it be those good 'ol boys in Atlanta like the airports id...KLAN

 

[General Lee]

Sweet! Now we get to do what Airtran has been doing for years----bilk the locals. I think they did that in TLH and ICT. Hey, if it works, then great. Next thing you know we will start to fast taxi in the ramp like the Southwest guys---to keep "Clockwork Orange" on schedule.



Bye Bye--General Lee

PS--the "KLAN" remark was not necessary, but it was original.

 

[On Your Six]

Sweet! Now we get to do what Airtran has been doing for years----bilk the locals. I think they did that in TLH and ICT. Hey, if it works, then great. Next thing you know we will start to fast taxi in the ramp like the Southwest guys---to keep "Clockwork Orange" on schedule.



Bye Bye--General Lee

PS--the "KLAN" remark was not necessary, but it was original.

Funny you should mention the fast taxiing. I thought one of those corndog SWA airplanes was actually taking off on a taxiway at PHX a few weeks back. It was taxiing that fast. But hey, they are punctual.

 

[canyonblue]

Next thing you know we will start to fast taxi in the ramp like the Southwest guys---to keep "Clockwork Orange" on schedule.

I thought Delta had 2 taxi speeds, slow and stopped. They way some of you guys taxi, I'm expecting the right blinker to be on, while you are looking for the taxiway sign through those tri-focals.

 

[j41driver]

I thought Delta had 2 taxi speeds, slow and stopped. They way some of you guys taxi, I'm expecting the right blinker to be on, while you are looking for the taxiway sign through those tri-focals.

Sounds about right...

 

[GCD]

At least the 737 brakes are very forgiving. They aren't so forgiving in heavier airplanes.

I taxi like Granny because I desire to have enough brake energy left for an RTO.

But, this comment should be for another thread, I suppose.

 

[On Your Six]

Delta is used to the long lines at ATL... Taxiing slow becomes ingrained I guess.

 

[canyonblue]

At least the 737 brakes are very forgiving. They aren't so forgiving in heavier airplanes.

I taxi like Granny because I desire to have enough brake energy left for an RTO.

But, this comment should be for another thread, I suppose.

And that is understandable, it's the guys who are riding the brakes all the way down the taxiway that chap me.

 

[Joe Peeoznotz]

Must be something in the water in ATL. What the heck, if you can't make money the old fashioned way, just pull a hold up. It's airports like Lansing that perpetuate this problem by paying these thugs off. $1M is cheap for those little RJ's. If you have to buy a 717, it costs $3M.

It makes the DFW offer of free rent for 24 gates for 1 year look paultry. I think the savings on those gates was $12M for the rent. Multiply $3M times 24 gates, plus the advertising budget, and $100M would be more logical. Who knows, maybe Gary should join the club.