Airport hopes incentives lure low-fare carriers

Huntsville International Airport is offering incentives to try to lure low-fare jet service.

"We wanted to show airlines and our customers that we're serious about bringing competitive fares to Huntsville," airport spokeswoman Cindy Maloney said. "To be competitive, we need to be in line with fares offered out of Nashville and Birmingham" airports.

The incentives are available for low-fare carriers moving in here or for major legacy airlines that modify their pricing so Huntsville is more competitive with Nashville and Birmingham airports.

Any airline is eligible for the incentives if it provides at least three flights a day from the airport to all markets served by that airline. The fares cannot exceed the lowest advance purchase published fares.

Each aircraft must have at least 50 seats, and at least 90 percent of the seats on each aircraft must be available at the low fare.

The program is included in a statement of policy on airlines' use of the airport adopted Tuesday by the Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority.

Among the incentives are a credit for the fees for any new exclusive terminal space rented by the airline. The authority also will spend up to $250,000 to advertise the low-fare jet service.

The airport's five existing carriers have already been briefed on the incentives package.

The number of passengers at the airport has dropped each month this year, compared with the same months in 2005. In May, the passenger count at the airport was 106,540, down 9.9 percent compared with May 2005.

The traffic decrease is fallout from the loss of Independence Air from this market, said Rick Tucker, executive director of the Port of Huntsville, which includes the airport.

Dulles, Va.-based Independence Air, Huntsville's first low-fare airline, stopped all of its flights after Jan. 5 because of continued financial troubles.

Passenger traffic at the airport is up about 4 percent this year compared with comparable 2004 figures, Tucker said.

"We are growing," Tucker said, although the growth was at an accelerated pace when Independence Air was in the market.

Tucker and airport marketing director Barbie Peek are meeting today with representatives from 10 airlines - most of those not currently serving Huntsville - during JumpStart 2006 in Austin, Texas. The forum, hosted by Airports Council International-North America, gives airports a chance to make presentations to airlines.

The meetings are a good way to inform airlines of developments at the airport and in the Huntsville area, including the new jobs resulting from the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommendations, Maloney said.

Record-setting performance has continued at the International Intermodal Center, where air, rail and highway cargo is received, transferred, stored and distributed. There were 4,044 rail lifts at the center in May, the first time the center has exceeded the 4,000-lift mark in a month.

That volume represents a 58 percent increase over May 2005, said Mitch Bradley, center director.

In other business Tuesday, the authority approved an operating budget for fiscal 2007, which begins July 1. The budget includes more than $25.5 million in revenue and about $21.7 million in spending. The authority also approved more than $34 million in capital improvements for fiscal 2007.