Building Ground Service Operations to Attract New Airlines (SCASDP Week)

(MoneyWatch)  It's not often that you can group Bemidji, Minnesota and Corpus Christi, Texas into the same post, but they've both come up with similar ideas for their Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCASDP) proposals, and I think they're on the right track. Actually, I don't think they've come up with similar ideas but rather, they've both found the same firm to recommend the same thing. They each want funding to help create their own ground service handler to attract new service.

The idea here is that the airports want to do whatever they can to keep airport costs low to attract new service. That's very smart. Low costs should always be a primary focus. Both Bemidji and Corpus Christi realize that the cost of contracting with someone to handle ground operations might be a deterrent, so they want to create their own operation which can be run at cost and not for profit. If costs go down, the likelihood of additional airline service goes up.

I tried to reach out to both airports about how much they expect this could reduce the cost of operation, but neither returned my calls. Sadly, this has usually been the case more often than not with smaller airports.

Why do they need federal money? Well it does cost a fair bit to buy all the equipment to get this project up and running. Bemidji says in its proposal that it needs $280,125 to buy things like belt loaders, ground power units, baggage carts, and more. Corpus Christi says it needs $688,725 for its larger operation. If I were the feds, I would give them that amount and help them get it started.

They've also asked for more money to pay for the first year of operation, and I can understand that. It will be hard to cover those costs during startup mode. If this does attract new service, it will take time for it to actually start so revenues won't cover operations in the first year.

Lastly, they want money for a consultant to help them attract service. Blah. Fund that yourselves.

Overall, I like the idea of trying to reduce costs, but without speaking with them directly, it's hard to know how much of an impact this may actually have.