AirportBusiness Blogs

… where the new sheriff in town is Atlanta’s airport general manager Ben DeCosta. Concealed weapons are the issue, and DeCosta and other Atlanta officials are taking a hard stand against a new Georgia state law (House Bill 89) that permits citizens with firearm licenses to carry concealed weapons aboard public transportation, in state parks, and elsewhere. DeCosta’s response: Not in my airport.

Good for him. He may not be Wyatt Earp, but DeCosta is taking the lead in seeing that guns don’t proliferate in his territory.

Of course, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week that reaffirmed an individual’s right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, it was expected that new legal battles would arise over gun ownership. It’s just nearly impossible to believe that the first significant battle would come at a U.S. airport, where the need for security has become inherent since 9/11.

Says DeCosta, “We have the legal grounds to take this stand, and we are also driven by my unwavering belief that guns have no place at airports.” While DeCosta cites the Georgia Code (Section 16-11-127) that includes a “public gathering exception,” Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin is calling on Washington to resolve the issue. One suggestion: Mandate that any public facility receiving federal funding be declared a gun-free zone.

DeCosta also cites support from airport groups, AAAE and ACI-NA, and quotes AAAE president Chip Barclay who, in a letter of support, says that “any and all attempts to prohibit weapons from our nation’s airports are necessary and must be supported.”

This is not about gun ownership rights; it’s about sanity. We already have enough stress bouncing off the airport terminal walls these days without having to worry if half the folks hanging out pre-security are packing weapons – concealed, no less.

Writer Jay Bookman of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution may have said it best: “Like so much about the gun issue, this is more about symbolism than practical effect. But the symbolism in this case works against the gun lobby, which may find it has significantly overreached and chosen poor ground on which to fight.”

Thanks for reading. jfi

I received an e-mail tonight telling me that one person was killed and a dozen more wounded at today’s air show in Huntsville, Al. Evidently a storm knocked over several VIP tents, and a five-year-old child was killed when an air conditioner fell on him.

We lived in Huntsville for 28 years, from November of 1978 to November of 2006, so this hit hard. We aren’t sure at this time if we know any of the families involved, but this being an aviation event almost dictates that we do. I had received a generous invitation to attend the air show and enjoy the VIP tent. I was flattered by the invitation, but was unable to make it.

We anxiously await more news.

Change of subject…

It seems that the airlines have finally grasped the idea that continuous losses are not sustainable and that reducing capacity might be the best solution. I wish them well.

I’d give them one other suggestion—make their websites more user friendly. They are absolutely miserable. Last week I spent hours trying to buy one admittedly complicated ticket. Today I did it again.

Gail and I have only one grandchild and he lives in Boston. We had 109,000 miles in Gail’s Delta account and wanted to use them to purchase tickets so that each of us could go roundtrip to BOS for 25,000 miles, leaving us with enough miles to go again later this year. We couldn’t get that done on the website. In spite of the fact that they advertise domestic flights for 25,000 miles per person roundtrip, the lowest cost we could find was 50,000 miles per person.

I gave up twice and tried to get the tickets by telephone for an extra $50 per trip. I got one person I couldn’t understand at all, another person I could almost understand who told me there was no way to get 25,000 mile tickets, and finally, a real live human being in Atlanta who spoke American. Janice solved our problem. True, we had to change to a much less desirable schedule, but we expected that all along. Janice made us happy.

The thing that makes me mad is that it’ll have to be done all over again for the next trip. In the meantime, I hope Delta realizes what a jewel they have in Janice.

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…came out this week, and the bizav groups aren’t happy. The Institute for Policy Studies (www.ips-dc.org) and its sister group Essential Action in a joint report on private jet travel and general aviation essentially charge that the American public is subsidizing business aviation and the fat cats that access it. Problem is, when they painted this picture they didn’t use a full palette of colors.

The IPS study takes the Air Transport Association (the airlines) and FAA’s current stance that business aviation needs to pay more for the operation of the air traffic control system. To some extent, the bizav groups have already accepted that notion, agreeing that an increase in the fuel excise tax is appropriate in an era of rising costs and the need to modernize ATC. Comments National Business Aviation Association president Ed Bolen, “This report is 30 pages of nothing but outrageous claims and the warmed-over rhetoric used by the nation’s big airlines. It is unfortunate that at a time when businesses are struggling and communities are losing air service, we see political screed masquerading as a policy report.”

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association, in a press release, adds, “In an effort to speed the modernization of the antiquated ATC system in the U.S., the general aviation industry has expressed to Congress its willingness to pay an even higher fuel tax. This commitment to ‘pony up for modernization’ was made despite the fact that the airlines refuse to pay any more taxes to improve the current ATC system. GA industry support has been nearly universal for the current FAA reauthorization proposal in the House and the Senate that would increase general aviation’s contribution by over 36 percent, or an additional $290 million, while the airlines will contribute no additional new money.”

The IPS study also charges that business aviation is a major polluter, offering the analogy that one bizjet trip eats as much fuel as one American does annually driving a car. IPS would also like to see heavy taxation of the industry, money to be used for airport infrastructure and mass transit.

Where the wheel comes off this axle for me is two-fold. One, IPS calls for a luxury tax on general aviation aircraft. Apparently, their study of history skipped over the luxury tax idea of some 20 years ago – a move that almost single-handedly destroyed non-airline aircraft manufacturing in this country. Two is the failure to acknowledge the important role business aviation plays in commerce for smaller communities. The latter is a key determinant in FAA’s ongoing mission of maintaining a system of airports, one not solely focused on commercial carriers.

At a time when our air transportation system is struggling and small communities are losing access to the system via the airlines, over-taxing the one segment that is holding its own seems at best inappropriate.

Thanks for reading. jfi

The blog is late this week but I have a good excuse. My wife left me. Oh, she’s coming back tomorrow, after a week at a retreat for church choir members (seems harmless enough), but it has been a rough week. Wives should leave more often, just so husbands will appreciate them more. I don’t know who misses her more—me or the dogs and cat.

AOPA interviewed a pilot who is in jail after he crashed his Stearman into a river, killing his passenger (go to http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2008/accident0807.html). He was jailed for only a 30-day sentence, but it raises many questions.

One of my first reactions to this story was that Ted Kennedy served no time at all for crashing his auto into a river, killing a passenger. His case seems to me to have involved far more egregious behavior than did the pilot’s accident.

The pilot was indeed guilty of bad behavior (all of this is only my opinion), but criminal behavior? He did knowingly break regs and the accident resulted because of that violation. Was this criminal? As Bill Clinton might have said, depends on the definition of criminal.

In cars, DUI is criminal by law and by custom and can bring jail time. Speeding and failure to stop at a stop sign seldom do. On the other hand, when they cause fatal accidents, both can bring liability lawsuits in the millions of dollars. So, can such suits be brought against pilots? (The pilot in question faces such a lawsuit right now.) We’re used to that and buy liability insurance to protect ourselves. But jail? You just can’t buy a “Get-Out-of-Jail-Free” card except in the game of Monopoly.

My non-flying friends seem to be in favor of the pilot going to jail. My flying friends vary all over the board between “hang him” and “no pilot should go to jail for an accident.” What do you think? AOPA would like to know (see their link above) and so would I.

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… there is business aviation, which is experiencing a slowdown, but to nowhere near the extent of what’s happening with the U.S. airlines. The growing importance of business aviation is reinforced by a study from the Stanford Transportation Group (www.stgsf.com), a research and consulting firm based in San Francisco. The study, released June 10, reports that travelers on business aircraft now generate a record 41 percent of the number of passenger trips of those made by airline first-class, business-class, and full-fare coach passengers combined.

STG analyzed the number of one-way U.S. domestic passenger-trips by fare category and developed estimates of ridership on business aircraft (jets and turboprops). Premium airline traffic is defined as those passengers traveling on first class, discounted first class, business class, discounted business class, and full-fare coach tickets as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. “As a group, the number of premium trips has fallen from 20 percent of overall airline travel prior to 9/11 to less than 10 percent of airline travel,” comments STG managing director Gerald Bernstein. According to STG, some 16 million one-way trips are taken annually on business jets and turboprops. Just eight years ago, business aviation travel accounted for only 16 percent of the number of premium airline trips.

Of course, business aviation is rapidly becoming integrated into the global marketplace, which accounts for the strong order books at the general aviation manufacturers. Yet, in the U.S., bizjet owners more and more are shopping fuel price at fixed base operators and, according to one key source, are changing flight procedures to cut back on fuel usage. In fact, some 93 percent are changing flight procedures, while some 19 percent are cutting back on hours flown, according to one report.

For FBOs, the good news is that bizav remains a solid player. Their best customers haven’t thrown in the towel. The bad news is the impact on revenues and profits, which ultimately will impact how FBOs do business.

Should the U.S. Congress ever return to its responsibility of passing long-term aviation reauthorization, it might want to make sure it doesn’t overtax the one segment of aviation that continues to be stable.

Thanks for reading. jfi

Readers know by now that I believe in the free market, and this week has provided much evidence to warm the cockles of my heart.

The market works hard to solve our energy problems. Tata, the large Indian car manufacturer, plans to put on the market this year what they call an “air car.” Fill it with compressed air and off you go. I don’t know diddley about the air car. I don’t know if it will be successful or not. I do know that a bunch of folks in India believe it will sell and they are investing a lot of money in it. I, thanks to the working of the market, can sit back and wait to see without investing a cent. That’s wonderful.

I know a successful inventor. Note that word “successful.” He has invented things, put them on the market, and made a profit on them. That impresses me. He is currently working on a machine that will—powered solely by the differences between high and low temperatures during a normal day—create electricity. Put it in your back yard and it will, he says, produce more electricity than you need to operate your home. You can sell the excess to your utility company.

Again, I know nothing and understand less about this. All I know is that a man who has been successful with past inventions is working on this at no cost to me. If he succeeds, it will save me a bunch of money. If he fails, it costs me nothing.

That same guy thinks he has a process that will profitably extract oil from used tires. Will it? Who knows? All I know is that he thinks it will work and has plans to invest in and operate the plant where it will be done.

People are doing this type of thing all over the world, and that is wonderful. If any of them—and some will—win the big prize—profit—we will all benefit.

Ain’t that a great system?

Now, look at the latest from the guvmint. It wants to force all of us to buy only compact fluorescent light bulbs by the year 2014. Note that the guvmint doesn’t have to compete on the free market. It can just tell us what we can buy. If the bulbs are good, we will benefit. If not, it will cost all of us. Does anyone remember when the guvmint forced us to buy those pitiful toilets?

In the meantime, the guvmint’s inferior system thwarts the free market’s superior system. If the guvmint mandates that we all buy a certain light bulb, why would anyone invest in developing a better bulb? It would actually be illegal to use the better bulb. Bingo, folks. The guvmint has done it again.

When will they ever learn?

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… to start paying attention to the devastation occurring with small communities and their connection to the national air transportation system. “It’s not on their minds,” he says. “We have a serious crisis in this country; what’s not as well known is we’re going to have a crisis in air transportation.” Barclay was speaking at a press conference at this week’s annual convention of the American Association of Airport Executives in New Orleans.

In an attempt to gain Washington’s attention and help industry and federal officials to address the issue, AAAE on July 10 will host “The Energy Crisis and its Impact on Air Service: An Aviation Industry Summit.” Central to the agenda will be a need for central planning. Barclay says that the U.S. has institutions to assist other industries in crisis, evidenced earlier this year when the feds stepped in to alleviate the Wall Street financial crisis. The long-time AAAE president says that the marketplace will tell the airline industry what flights to keep – those that make money; the industry and the nation need to figure out how to connect the rest. “Government has the ability to step in,” he says. That said, Barclay says he doesn’t believe that a return to full government regulation of airline routes is the answer. Meanwhile, AAAE is putting together a task force to explore alternatives.

In New Orleans, attendees were told the grim projections that in short order the major U.S. airlines could cut routes as much as 30-40 percent. It’s the small communities that are taking the big hit.

In a side conversation after the press conference, Barclay said his reaction to the current situation is one of awe. And, while the airlines all agree that $100/barrel oil brings with it an unsustainable model for profit, the carriers seem to be taking the approach of waiting for their competitors to bleed to death.

To date, Barclay says some 100 communities have either lost air service altogether or are expected to by the end of the year. It’s a serious issue that needs to get on the Congressional radar. Getting legislators to understand the scope of the problem has quickly become a top priority.

Thanks for reading. jfi

Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger is dead at 94. Even if you’re an aviator, there’s a chance you never heard of him. He was the number three man on Dr. Wernher von Braun’s rocket team and one of the major minds of the space age.

It boggles the mind to think of his life. He was born in Germany, earned his doctorate in physics at age 23, was drafted into World War II, and sent to fight in Stalingrad in what some call history’s bloodiest battle. He was huddled in a Ukrainian farmhouse with about 40 other soldiers one cold night when an artillery shell destroyed the house and buried him alive. Later, another shell uncovered him. He was the lone survivor.

Later in the war, he was transferred to Dr.Wernher von Braun’s German rocket development center.

At the end of the war, Dr. Stuhlinger escaped with von Braun and others to America, where they developed rockets at Ft. Bliss and, later, in Huntsville, AL.

I lived in Huntsville for 28 years and can honestly say that I never heard a single person say a negative word about the man. He was much beloved and much admired as a scientist and as a great human being. Bob Ward, who, in his younger years, reported on the space race for “The Huntsville Times” described Stuhlinger as “a scholar and a gentleman. He was truly a gentle, sweet man and humble despite all his great achievements.” Others felt the same. A neighbor, Ralph Petroff (to whom I once tried to sell an airplane), said Stuhlinger was “equal parts Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi—a brilliant man with the soul of a saint.”

One favorite story came during the building of the Explorer. A device was needed to fire the second stage at exactly the right moment. Stuhlinger designed and built it in his garage.

A man of many accomplishments, Stuhlinger climbed the Matterhorn twice, learned to fly, mastered several languages, and became an authority on Thomas Jefferson.

And was beloved by all who knew him.

I wish I could say that I knew the man, but I can’t. Wife Gail and I believe that we met him walking with his wife on the mountain trails of Huntsville when we were new to Huntsville, but the truth is we cannot remember the name of the couple we met and are just not sure.

Let it be known that—with the help of retired NASA engineer Norm Schlemmer—I borrowed heavily from “The Huntsville Times” for this BLOG.

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… doing a story on the impact of airline mergers on airports. Looking beyond the obvious angle of the potential for the loss of air service, she was interested in the cost and hassle of changing signage at gates and the like – that is, the direct impact on the airport itself. My point to her was that the greater impact on airports has to do with the customer experience, and that airports more and more are taking on the responsibility of taking care of the passenger.

That was before the recent onslaught of announcements by the major carriers regarding checked baggage. As someone who has always preferred to check my bags, this is not welcome news. Those luggage manufacturers that are now scrambling to redesign carry-on luggage have a new customer. Actually, they probably have thousands of new customers. We have been incentivized to trudge through security and the airport with our bags.

This is not good news for airports.

Consider the experience Disney Magical Express is having at Orlando International. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Disney handles some one million bags annually via its hotels under the program. Initially, Disney’s service provider, Bags, Inc., got the airlines to waive the luggage fees – but no longer. The Sentinel reports that customers now must call Bags, Inc. and pay the luggage fee up front. Longer term, it reports that the company is considering installing payment registers at airline check-in counters in each Disney hotel, so guests could pay their baggage fees directly. One challenge is a lack of standards; fees vary, as do airline policies.

At the end of the day it would appear more customer service is being dumped on airports. The baggage policies have the potential for jamming up already clogged screening lines. Will the result be a need for more space? For more up-front concessions and other services? For more screeners? If the latter, we know the feds aren’t going to step in and help on that score.

Must be time for Congress to pass the Airport Responsibility Act. Hey, it’s in the bag.

Thanks for reading. jfi

They say the first, maybe worst, sign of insanity is the belief that others are controlling your life. If that’s true, I’m in, as George Bush the elder said, “deep doodoo.”

To paraphrase FedEx, I am absolutely, positively certain that I have less and less control of my life each year.

In aviation, the guvmint controls more space in more ways every year. I’m not saying that’s bad (or good), just that it’s true. TSA tells me what I can check, what I can carry on, to take off my shoes and unpack my computer. The airlines tell me to get there earlier, stand in lines longer, and squish up tighter. General aviation airspace becomes more restrictive and more complex. I have no control over any of this.

Outside of aviation, same thing. Between city, county, state, and fed, I spend much of my time paying and much of it trying to find out what to pay. I’m not even allowed to call the local U.S. Postal Service office, and that office can barely explain the new rates and the rules that determine what is a “standard” letter. Medicare? Social Security? Fageddabout it. In the first place, they don’t speak English but only some weird language that consists only of acronyms. If you actually put up with the telephone system, delays, and complications necessary to get an appointment with a Social Security person, she (if the Social Security System employs any males, I have never seen one) can and will explain the system and answer your questions very clearly. But only Mother Teresa ever had the serenity to put up with the process of getting the appointments, and she didn’t need to.

Telephone companies? Cable TV suppliers? Computers or, worse yet, computer people? Y’all, you might as well just give up. Hire a 12-year-old kid and let him/her figure it out. You ain’t gonna live long enough to do it yourself. If you do, your whole system (and you) will be totally obsolete when you get done.

That’s all I’ve got time for now. I think they’re coming to take me away.

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