Lack of Grant Won’t Deter Augusta Airport Officials

By Gary Remal, Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Dec. 16–AUGUSTA — Having failed to win a federal $100,000 marketing grant, Augusta State Airport officials are moving ahead with a home-grown plan to encourage travelers to fly to and from the capital.

Airport Manager John Guimond said he was disappointed not to receive the U.S. Department of Transportation grant to promote use of scheduled airline service to the city.

But he plans to reapply in April, though the awards won’t be announced until September.

City officials had hoped the three-year grant would lay the groundwork for a big jump in passenger use of the airport.

When the airport reaches 10,000 boardings a year, it qualifies for a $1 million federal subsidy.

Augusta State Airport currently has about 6,000 passengers, Guimond said.

Increased use of the airport brings additional revenues from passenger boardings, landing fees and a percentage of income from aviation services, such as fuel and parking.

“As traffic increases, revenues increase,” Guimond said.

Twenty-six airports or agencies received one of the federal grants, which ranged from $30,000 to $842,000. Grant recipients are expected to provide a minimum 10 percent match, though a promise to offer 20 percent makes a project more competitive, Guimond said.

The city and the Augusta Board of Trade each pledged $10,000 for the project if the grant application was successful. Guimond said he must now ask each if they would still offer the money if he applies again.

The handful of communities nationwide of similar size and operation that received the grants offered proposals similar to Augusta’s, he said.

“That’s the frustrating part,” Guimond said. “They didn’t notify me I didn’t get the award. They put out a notice of who did get the award and what their strengths were. They looked at two or three or four items and those were no different from what I’m trying to do.”

Even without the grant funds, a subcommittee of the city’s Airport Advisory Committee headed by Terry Pomerleau Gray is looking for low-cost ways to promote use of the capital city’s airport and to boost passenger use.

Gray said the subcommittee hopes to find relatively small amounts of money to support a modest advertising and branding campaign.

It’s already begun a home-grown appeal to business people with an insert in last month’s Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce newsletter, urging business travelers to support the airport as a community resource.

The flyer shows how travelers can save money and time flying from Augusta rather than driving to larger airports elsewhere.

“We’re trying to get people to check Augusta first for flights,” Gray said. “Check the prices. Check Colgan’s tickets. I don’t think most people think about (the Augusta airport). People buy by price and they look at Manchester, Boston and Portland.”

But at those airports, passengers must include driving time and arriving a couple hours ahead of departure to park and walk to the terminal and get through security lines, she said.

Many travelers pick lower prices over saving their own time, but Gray said time and convenience have their own value.

“I always think about how many legs there are to a trip,” she said. “That drive to Portland is three hours by the time you drive to Portland, park and check in, and I think of that as another leg to the flight.”

Leeanne Hewey, owner of Trinity Media Works in Manchester, agreed to assist with promoting the airport, Guimond said.

One of her partners, Ed Boucher of EAB International, has come up with a jingle promoting use of the Augusta State Airport. Another partner, Cliff Fletcher of Northern New England Video Productions, is producing short testimonial and promotional DVDs to be used in the campaign, Hewey said.

“We have to find some ways to get some notice and create a buzz,” Hewey said.

More passengers also enhance Colgan Air’s ability to increase the size and service on its planes, something she said could convince even more passengers to use the airport who may be put off by the size of the current aircraft.

Guimond said there are other proposals, particularly on the federal level, that could benefit the Augusta airport. But he said local officials cannot pin their hopes on those efforts.

“There is a movement out there or some discussion going on to petition the feds to allow airports that have scheduled service to automatically be entitled to that ($1 million federal airport subsidy) money, along with any other airports with 10,000 enplanements,” Guimond said. “But that is a long ways out there.”

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