RTA moves toward ski resort’s flight idea, hopes to fill seats

Smaller jets, more often…

A little more than half the airline seats on planes flying into the Gunnison Airport this past winter had people in them. The load factor stands at about 54 percent, which means the local Rural Transportation Authority along with Crested Butte Mountain Resort will probably pay the full $1,225,000 in flight guarantees used to get airlines to fly here. “My opinion is that we have some airline partners that aren’t very happy,” RTA airline consultant Kent Myers told the RTA board at its March 26 meeting. “The bottom line is that we need to sell more seats. We need 65 percent load factors minimum to make the program viable.”
The RTA moved toward pursuing a plan put forward by Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) to try to lock in smaller aircraft coming in more often from different places next year. While nothing is set in stone at the moment, the idea is taking hold of trying to get Continental Airlines to fly in a 70-seat regional jet from Houston; to get American Airlines to fly in a 63-seat jet from Dallas during the week; to work with Delta to get a 757 on weekends to service the East Coast; and to have United fly two 66-seat jets each day from Denver.
Myers will also look at the possibility of getting a jet to fly into Gunnison directly from Chicago.
Because of budget constraints, the RTA has only $325,000 for next season’s airline guarantees, compared to $600,000 this year. CBMR will pony up the rest, possibly as much as $1.2 million. The RTA did agree that its money would be the first to be spent on guarantees in 2011.
That situation led to a board discussion concerning Myers’ effectiveness as the airline consultant.
The Telluride-based business Community Flights gave the RTA a presentation earlier this month on how they felt they could improve the local air program by bringing in smaller planes from more places.
“I was impressed with their presentation,” said RTA board member Bill Babbitt. “They had fresh ideas and good energy.”
“I agree they were impressive,” said board member William Buck. “I think we have done pretty poorly as far as ROI [return on investment],” he said. “I think we need to use ROI as a guideline for the future.”
Myers responded that he has had clients base his consulting compensation on meeting specific goals, and he had no problem with that idea.
“My model here relies on the community to run a successful program,” he said. “My background is marketing but that’s not my job here. But my success with this program is to achieve better load factors. That’s just not how my deal is set up here. I’m hired here to get seats and that’s what I do. The ski area and the Tourism Association are charged with the marketing to fill the seats. But I need good load factors to go into the airlines and ask for the flights.”
“We haven’t been highly successful here,” responded Buck. “How is your relationship with the airlines?”
“I patch it together the best I can and they continue to fly here,” said Myers. “Last year United lost $1.7 million and we paid $400,000. They aren’t happy and I don’t blame them. So they will bring in two flights next year, but won’t ask for a guarantee. That’s a good deal.”
Board member Jim Starr said his frustration was in not having “a good metric to determine success.”
“Other programs do grow,” said Myers. “In both business and resort markets, the airline programs grow with more seats being filled.”
Babbitt said marketing wasn’t the only factor in empty seats. “Scheduling plays a role, the size of the aircraft plays a role, the construction of a program are all part of it, isn’t that right?” asked Babbitt.
“We do that,” said Myers. “The goal is to lower the cap and guarantee and maintain as many seats as possible. One thing I can’t negotiate is the price of the aircraft. If someone else can dramatically lower the cost to the RTA, go hire them. I’ve knocked on that door until I’m crazy.”
Board member Paula Swenson said there seemed to be problems with communication. “We have a disconnect between our consultant and those that do the marketing,” she said. “Maybe CBMR, the TA and Kent have to communicate better. Maybe we all need to sit down monthly and talk about the marketing.”
“The conversation is about success or failure and it seems we’ve failed,” said Buck.
“We as a board should get creative air service brought to us, and it seems we’ve had to bring it to Kent,” added Babbitt.
Citizen David Leinsdorf said he’s attended many of the RTA meetings and he thinks Myers has done a fine job with what he has to work with. “Clearly there are a lot of things going on in this market. There’s the national economy, the weather, the high altitude. Kent’s done what you’ve asked him to do. The program doesn’t fail or succeed on the shoulders of one person.”
“This has been a good discussion and good wake-up call,” said Starr. “We are facing challenges never seen before. Clearly more in-depth coordination is needed.”
Citizen Ann Ronai suggested looking into the potential of utilizing the Montrose airport to handle some of the problematic flights. “The RTA could use its buses to transport people here from Montrose,” she said.
“We all agree we need better measures and in my opinion we’ve been provided the service we’ve asked for,” said RTA board chairman Jonathan Houck. “I was intrigued by some of the things Community Flights brought to the table but it concerns me that they don’t yet have any clients.”
Houck suggested the board compile criteria for how to review the success of the program and come up with marks that are missing.
“I’d like to see a more proactive stance from Kent to make the program better,” said Buck.
“You have different issues with this airport that don’t exist anywhere else,” said Kent. “From the size and power of planes that are restricted due to weight, to weather and altitude. We fly regional jets in here and you don’t fill them. I’d be happy to engage in discussion on how to market to fill the seats.”
As it stands, Myers will continue his role as the RTA airline consultant but he may be spending more time helping to fill the seats as well as get them into Gunnison.