Tri-Cities Airport CEO to community: 'Use your airport'

Gene Cossey, president and chief executive officer of the Tri-Cities Airport, said Monday there is one thing people can do to ensure the airport's success: use it. "We're out trying to help you – we're trying to grow your businesses and trying to get more tourism into the area, we're trying to grow the things that you need," Cossey said. "How can you help us? Use your airport. That's the bottom line, use your airport." Cossey spoke at the East Tennessee State University Martin Center for the Arts to participate in the Tri-Cities Airport State of the Airport community meeting Monday morning. The meeting provided attendees with an update on the airport and aviation industry, as well as a look at the future of regional air service with an open Q&A format. Cossey said the event helps forward the airport's strategic plan in being a part of the community. "We think that it's important that the airport not only be here for everyone, but that we're out there engaging in everything that the community needs and does," Cossey said. "One of the things we want to do is have these community get-togethers where we invite the people in to listen to what's going on, hear the challenges that we have, see where our successes are, and really have the opportunity to ask us questions and give us feedback." Cossey, as well as Mead & Hunt's Kirk Lovell, managing director for Air Service Consulting, and Michael Garko, project manager for Air Service Consulting, spoke on the airport's air service, economic impact report and strategic master plan review. Cossey said part of the plan is to try to run the airport like a business rather than like a utility, which can be limited by the federal government. Cossey said a focus on airport expansion will help the airport best serve its communities. Current projects include parking expansion, the taxiway Alpha extension and taxiway Charlie removal and new air rescue and firefighting truck, while future projects are focused on checkpoint expansion, jet bridge addition, concourse expansion/rework and a fuel farm addition. In Cossey's view, the biggest factor behind meeting consumers' needs, especially in getting specific airlines to fly out of Tri-Cities, is everyone's support in flying from the airport. Lovell and Garko also shared some statistics about the Tri-Cities Airport, with Lovell explaining the two biggest costs in maintaining the flights comes from the jet fuel and labor. Lovell added while general inflation has caused the price of general livelihood to increase, the Tri-Cities Airport's air fare compared to the national air fare is lower and has decreased since 2005. "Even though fare's are going up, they're less than what they were," he said. "Typically when prices go up, demand slows, but demand is remaining really, really strong across the United States. This is great for the airlines, but this is bad for all of you driving to another airport." Garko said the main factor into the airport's lower prices comes from the larger capacities with the partner airlines. "All four of our airlines have added capacity in the last year," Garko said. "Adding that extra capacity, that extra supply to the market, has been the driver for lower air fares." Another talking point of the meeting was the discontinuation of the Breeze Airways flight to the Washington Dulles International Airport, located in Washington, D.C. Garko explained while the service for those flights is ending in November because of its low performance level, other options are being considered to help fill its space. "We've seen a decline in visitation nationwide to Washington, D.C., so what we do is we monitor other markets – for Breeze, in particular, leisure markets," he said. "Florida's really hot right now where people are traveling to South Florida whether it's business or leisure…We're monitoring that and looking at additional Florida options as well as monitoring Breeze's growth throughout the nation."