Build it and they will come?! Not so Fast!

Has your community built a terrific airport facility including a modern and updated terminal or recently renovated your facilities with the expectation that getting commercial airline service should be a snap? Have you gotten your commercial airline service Yet?

If your a small or medium sized community the answer is very likely NO!

Contrary to the opinion of some...the Airline Industry and the airlines that provide flights on a commercial basis from point A to point B are NOT a Public Utility or a Not For Profit Business...Airlines operate to MAKE A PROFIT. While not always successful...and frankly very often Airlines are unsuccessful in this endeavor...MAKING A PROFIT IS THE MAIN GOAL OF AN AIRLINE NONETHELESS! If they felt your community was a shoe-in as a profitable route...well you'd likely already have the air service with them.

NO COMMUNITIES AIRPORT IS ENTITLED TO COMMERCIAL AIRLINE SERVICE JUST BECAUSE THE AIRPORT IS THERE AND THE COMMUNITY WANTS SERVICE!Has your community fervently pursued air service to no avail? If so...your not alone. In the last couple of years Hundreds of communities (Mostly Small Communities) have lost air service...many have lost all commercial airline service!

COMMUNITIES DON'T ALWAYS GET THE COMMERCIAL AIRLINE SERVICE THEY DESERVE BUT THEY CAN GET THE COMMERCIAL AIRLINE SERVICE THEY INVEST IN! THE KEY IS FIGURING OUT WHAT IS A GOOD INVESTMENT IN AIRLINE SERVICE!As it regards gaining Airline Service the questions are many:

What is a community to do to gain and sustain commercial air service or build up more air service to your community?

What are the airlines looking for when they consider whether to serve a community?

What are present industry trends and how do they impact efforts to obtain air service to small and/or medium sized communities?

Should my community get into a risk abatement program with an airline and offer a guarantee in order to obtain desired service? If yes how long should a risk abatement program go on and how should success be measured?

Air Service means critical access to the national transportation system and also provides a large amount of positive economic impacts...what are the things a small community could and/or should do to attract air service?

The above and other questions and topics will all be introduced and discussed in future High and Hot Blogs...

Why, you may be asking...is the blog titled High and Hot? Simply this reflects one of the airports I presently work to attract, develop and sustain new air service for...The Telluride Regional Airport. At over 9078 feet elevation and with a short runway this airport presents a difficult challenge as it regards attracting and developing air service. Any pilot can tell you that the laws of aviation physics are not kind at airports that are at a high elevation and with a short runway... particularly when the weather is hot. These conditions effect the weight that can successfully be carried on aircraft and severely limits the types of aircraft that can fly and from where (The distance the aircraft can fly from). Telluride being the highest elevation airport in the United States with a short runway provides severe challenges in developing commercial air service that can be successful. Because the general subject of this blog is discussing and explaining how a community might overcome the many challenges that get in the way of gaining/improving air service...High and Hot seemed like the appropriate title for this blog.

I hope to post blogs at least once a week on average not only on the main subject of commercial airline service development to small/medium communities but on other areas of the commercial airline industry including passenger tips and experiences etc...

Please feel free to link to this blog, refer others to it...forward this blog to others and most importantly jump into discussions/comments on this blog. While I am a professional working in this industry I don't claim to have all the answers. Frankly, I feel any consultant or professional who claims to have all the answers really doesn't know this industry well at all as it is a complicated quickly changing industry and there is no set path to success. There are general actions and approaches that can be taken to give your community the best chance for success but nothing in this industry is guaranteed. Like airplanes themselves...air service development is often dealing with a moving target.

scott@communityflights.com is my email address should you want to discuss air service development approaches and issues outside a public forum. I'm glad you found my blog and Happy Landings!

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