AirportBusiness Blogs

This is a true story.

Long ago and far away, on an airport that shall forever remain unidentified, the guvmint required a new beacon light atop a water tower on the airport.  No problem. The beacon was obtained and the airport authority hired a local electrical firm to install it exactly as specified by the guvmint. Measurements were taken.

Panic! A major problem appeared. The tower was barely within the height limit allowed by the feds. If the beacon was installed as per specs the tower—with beacon—would become ever so slightly taller than allowed.

There was a much-learned discussion about this problem. Careful reading of guvmint regulations made it clear that the beacon installation couldn’t be changed in any way. Likewise, the tower—with beacon—absolutely, positively, could not be even one inch taller than specified. What to do? The problem seemed insolvable.

Then Jodie, an electrician’s assistant, spoke up. Jodie was a local fellow untrained in the intricacies of guvmint airport regulations. He was not a trained engineer. Nobody had asked his opinion.

But Jodie was one of those fellows blessed with a super abundance of common sense. “Ain’t y’all got a dump truck?” he asked. “Dump truck!” was the amazed response. “How could we solve this with a dump truck?”

“Well,” Jodie said, “you could shorten the tower. Just dump a bunch of dirt all around the tower. That’d make the tower shorter from the ground to the top.”

That’s what they did. I’ve flown in and out of that airport several times, but I just learned this story last week. As far as I know, dirt, tower, and beacon are all still there.

I think we should find Jodie and send him to Washington. Who knows, he might come up with a solution to our financial fiasco. In the meantime, if the guvmint wants to pursue this story, well, it’s really not true, after all. It’s a lie. Shoot, everybody knows I lie a lot.

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… despite the short-term challenges facing the industry. More than 2,000 airport executives and exhibitors met here this week for the combined ACI World/North America Conference & Exhibition. The last time ACI World and ACI-NA met jointly was on 9/11 in Montreal. This meeting, fortunately, had a better result … and was surprisingly upbeat considering the turmoil facing the industry.

Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World, told attendees that “airports need to plan for the long term,” citing projections that the industry, globally, can expect 4 percent growth over the next 20 years. It was a message echoed by incoming ACI-NA chair John D. Clark III, executive director of the Jacksonville Airport Authority, and others. Yet, says Clark, “this would be a good time to take a timeout,” in reference to capital development projects. “I would proceed with some level of caution.”

Perhaps the highlight of the meeting was the opening keynote address by 91-year old Dr. Alfred E. Kahn, a professor emeritus at Cornell University and the man known as the “father of deregulation”. Dr. Kahn reiterated his support for airline deregulation, but challenged airports and the industry to rethink its system of rates and charges. Funding airports and the aviation system by way of weight-based formulas, fuel excise taxes, and ticket taxes, says Dr. Kahn, “is the most absurd way to do it.”

Adds Dr. Kahn, “You couldn’t devise a system of pricing that was more perfectly prepared to create congestion.” He called on industry to put aside its parochial interests and come to agreement on how to best fund the system while also addressing capacity and congestion issues.

Thanks for reading. jfi

I belong to and participate in AVSIG (Aviation Special Interest Group), the oldest pilot forum online. It is an endless source of information and recreation.

“AVSiggers” get together when possible to eat, swap lies, and perhaps imbibe a bit of adult beverages. These get togethers are called “gigs.” A small gig is called a mini gig. This week a member from Arkansas came to our area on a business trip and several of us arranged a mini gig for barbecue right across the street from the Asheville, NC, airport. And damned good barbecue it was, too.

Our Arkansas friend flew over in his lovely and well-equipped Turbo Saratoga. For a fuel stop he selected from the AOPA airport directory a smallish airport that supposedly was attended during the day, but offered self-service fueling. He landed, found no attendant, tried the self fueling but the credit-card machine didn’t work. He left, and had to make another stop elsewhere.

This is one of the most frustrating experiences in aviation. It hurts the pilot badly, particularly at today’ fuel prices. It hurts AOPA as publisher of the airport directory. It adds to general aviation travel a degree of uncertainty our industry can ill afford.

Our friend was not joyriding. He was headed for a tradeshow where he and employees of his firm were to set up an exhibit that was very important to the company. This was a business trip. An extra fuel stop takes time, of course. Some people say it is impossible to stop for fuel in less than an hour. I’ve done it faster than that, but not much faster and not often.

Finally, of course, an incident like this hurts the airport and the fuel seller. Although my friend is an easy-going fellow, I wonder if he will ever again stop at that airport. Would you?

BTW, we were a group of four. Only one of us partook of the adult beverages. Two of us had to drive some distance afterwards, and another was driving a motorcycle. The fourth person, who was the passenger of the designated driver of his car, did enjoy the specialty beer of the house. I was proud of us.

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For years several friends and I have argued over what Southwest Airlines will do when this happens or that happens. We have come to agree that Southwest will do whatever it takes to make a profit.

Jack Welch, former head of GE, said it best: You have to deal with the world as it is—not as you wish it was, or even as it should be. Southwest must agree with Welch.

Lately, we have all wondered what Southwest would do when its future contracts for fuel yield smaller and smaller savings. Well, now we know. The futures contracts are indeed now diminishing in importance and Southwest is reacting.

Southwest is doing everything other airlines are doing in this era of high fuel and tough competition. But, as usual, they are doing it with a difference.

Southwest has cut flights, parked airplanes, and raised prices. The difference is, Southwest is still friendly.

Current Southwest ads brag that quoted fares are total fares, with no hidden fees. In fact, they will even allow you to buy from a real live person over the phone for the same price as buying online! You can check two—count ‘em, two—bags free and sodas, juice, coffee, and water are free.

Not only that, but at every point in the process they act as if they appreciate—rather than resent—your business.

Folks, Southwest knows how to handle “friendly cheap.” I doubt anyone can beat them at it. They’ve been doing it—profitably—since the 1970s. It’s their thing.

I remember when the big-boy airlines decided that  they  had to compete with Southwest on price. The attitude of everyone  the customer dealt with seemed to be a snarl, saying “If you want cheap fares you’re gonna suffer for it, jerk.” That attitude seems somewhat the same today.

But, to paraphrase “Old Man River,” Southwest just keeps on rollin’, proud to be providing friendly cheap.

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… FAA’s Associate Administrator for Airports D. Kirk Shaffer reiterates his call for change. Thing is, he’s not running for political office. On a host of issues he asks, “If what we’ve been doing in the past is so smart, why hasn’t it worked?” Good question.

Shaffer calls on the aviation industry to pull its collective head together and come up with ideas and make recommendations to Congress on how to meet the challenges of 2008 and beyond. He prefers that the ideas and direction flow from industry to Capitol Hill, not the other way around. “What are they going to do? Tell us we don’t know what we’re doing?

“We’ve got to take back the leadership of our industry.”

Be it FAA reauthorization, slot auctions in New York, or Airport Improvement Program funding dissemination, the agency is getting pushback from all sorts of interests – notably, individual members of Congress, depending on the issue. His overriding message, perhaps, is that industry and legislators need to focus on the importance of “the system”. He’s looking for input: “I’m open; I’m all ears for ideas.”

Appointed to his current position in early 2007, Shaffer is a former director of properties and general counsel for the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority; is a private pilot; has worked on various funding and environmental issues; and is a West Point graduate.

Shaffer is particularly upset by the fact that Congress has yet to pass an FAA reauthorization bill, which he now predicts won’t happen until FY2010. The agency is currently operating under a record seventh continuing resolution. Says Shaffer, “There’s no excuse for it.”

Shaffer comes off as a person who likes to get things done. (Check out his accomplishments while at Nashville as testament.) The frustration in his voice is that of a man who has run into the brick wall that is Washington, D.C. It also signals disappointment in an industry that faces a mountain of challenges but continues to want to do business as usual.

Thanks for reading. jfi

Flying into Salt Lake City (KSLC) on Labor Day was a throwback to days long gone by.

The pilots and FA both announced that there would be rough air as our regional jet descended for the approach into KSLC. Most of us tugged on our safety belts and continued with our newspapers. It did get rough; we put down our papers and paid attention.

I don’t want to exaggerate this. The turbulence was never bad enough to cause one to fear death or even close to it. It did toss the airplane about a bit and—for the first time in years—I felt  an uncomfortably harsh jerk by the seat belt.

The trip was memorable mostly because it was the most uncomfortable trip since I flew into Washington, DC, way back in the late 1960s—roughly 40 years ago. That trip was very bumpy from takeoff in Atlanta to the destination in Washington. Many people did fear for their lives. That was the worst trip I’ve ever taken in an airliner and the second worst including any type of aircraft. The worst was the day I blundered into a storm because the brand new radar was painting weather precisely backwards. I did fear death on that one.

The story here is that in these days of jet engines and radar we really don’t run into much rough weather on airlines. That’s a wonderful thing for us old-timers and even more important to less frequent flyers.

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… and one has to wonder: Is anybody in Washington listening? The report follows an emergency meeting in July of an Energy/Air Service Task Force established by the American Association of Airport Executives to get lawmakers to pay attention to the plight of airports around the U.S. that are experiencing drastic cuts in airline service due to high fuel prices.

Much of the report centers on expanding grants or easing their restrictions; expediting the NextGen air traffic control modernization plan; changes to the Essential Air Service program; and raising the PFC cap, among others. One interesting recommendation is to allow airlines emergency access to the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve or, alternatively, to have the feds consider a jet fuel subsidy program for temporary periods.

The Task Force also calls on the government to “temporarily” suspend limits on foreign investment in U.S. airlines – it would seem in today’s economic and global environment, such limits are outdated and changes should be permanent.

Another recommendation is to increase funding for the Small Community Air Service Development Program – to $50 million annually. Airports have accessed SCASD grants to attract new air service, often for marketing campaigns. Yet, one provision should get NATA’s attention: “Continue to allow small airports to reduce costs by using small community grants for ground handling services.” NATA sees this as using federal grant monies to allow airports to compete with private airline servicing companies, who are members of the National Air Transportation Association.

The golden paragraph in the report may be this: “Suspend any new unfunded federal mandates that would cause additional cost, congestion, or service derogation until such time as a comprehensive transportation and energy plan is in place …” Well, an association can dream too, it seems.

Back in the 1990s, AAAE president Chip Barclay and others worked hard on the National Civil Aviation Review Commission to study an array of challenges facing aviation, and subsequently published a substantial list of recommendations. At the time, I asked Chip what his greatest fear was related to the NCARC study. His answer: That it will wind up on a shelf somewhere collecting dust — which is precisely what happened.

Hope there’s still room left on the bookshelf.

Thanks for reading. jfi