|
Keith Benman
The NWI Times
Gary Airport has Fed Grant for New Airlines
IT ALSO WILL LOOK FOR SUPPORT FROM AREA BUSINESSES
Gary/Chicago International Airport wants to use an $800,000 federal grant to fund flights to major aviation hubs such as Denver International and Dulles International in Washington, D.C.
The federal grant would be the first source of funding for the service, and the airport also would look for support from area businesses, Airport Director Chris Curry said. It also could seek funding from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority or the state.
Under an arrangement being discussed with Houston-based ExpressJet, the Gary airport would guarantee the airline one year of payments to operate the service. Ticket fares collected would be knocked off the total price of the service, which could be up to $5 million for flying for one year to one city.
"We are trying to determine if it's feasible or not," Curry said on Monday. "But we do feel a connection to a major hub is vital for the Gary airport."
ExpressJet already has contracted to provide a similar service starting in November between Branson, Mo., and Rockford, Ill., and Branson and Shreveport, La., ExpressJet spokeswoman Kristy Nicholas said. Tickets are already being sold.
The $800,000 is the remainder of a $1 million Small Communities Air Service Development grant the Gary airport won three years ago from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Curry said. There is one hitch: the grant expired in September, so the airport and ExpressJet have jointly applied to have it renewed.
The Gary airport wants its flights to have some kind of ticket-sharing agreement with a major airline such as United, Curry said. That way, passengers could make direct connections to the major airline's flights. The airport is not interested in having only point-to-point flights where passengers have to arrange their own transfers, Curry said.
Nicholas said the Gary airport would be in charge of all marketing and ticketing and any ticket sharing with other airlines would be up to the airport to arrange. Under the contract being discussed, ExpressJet would provide planes, crews, maintenance and insurance, she said.
In his comments Monday, Curry was expanding on brief remarks he made Friday in Portage to an Indiana General Assembly study committee.
In their joint letter to the Transportation Department, the Gary airport and ExpressJet say the service could get off the ground in April of 2010.
The Gary airport two years ago considered using its Small Community Air Service Development grant to land Cape Air, which wanted to fly between Gary and Indianapolis.
The airport authority decided against using the grant on Cape Air when it determined the route would not attract enough passengers, Curry said.
South Bend Regional Airport and Evansville Regional Airport both used Small Community Air Service Development grants totaling about $1 million for Cape Air. Cape Air flew from those cities to Indianapolis International for six months starting in late 2007 but the service ended in August 2008, because not enough people were flying.
This article ran on nwitimes.com on October 6, 2009.
|
