City, Airport Officials Mix Pride, Modesty in Lambert Outlook
By Ken Leiser, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Apr. 15–ST. LOUIS — Passenger boardings are climbing at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, and local leaders are confident the airport is on the cusp of becoming a top hub again.
The big talk comes with big plans as Lambert pursues more carriers and embarks on a $105 million makeover of its concourses.
But when it comes to Wall Street, the city is preparing to strike a more modest message: When you think of Lambert, think Oakland, not Las Vegas.
The city comptroller’s office recently outlined a strategy that would “break with the past” by urging bond-rating agencies to compare Lambert with other medium-size airports in hopes of improving its credit score. Officials say a better score could save the city tens of thousands of dollars when it issues up to $250 million in bonds later this year for airport improvements.
Not so long ago, the Federal Aviation Administration regarded Lambert as a major passenger hub in the United States. In 2000, Lambert ranked 15th among major U.S. airports with about 15.3 million boardings.
But in 2003, American Airlines and its
partners cut more than half their flights at Lambert. While passenger totals have increased the last three years, the number of boardings the airport counted in 2007 — 7.7 million — was barely half the volume in 2000.
After American Airlines’ reductions, credit rating agencies like Standard & Poor’s and Fitch downgraded Lambert’s debt rating. City leaders now want bond-rating agencies to compare Lambert with its present economic realities, not the pre-2003 days when its passenger volume rivaled Newark.
“You know, that’s been five years ago now,” Ivy Neyland-Pinkston, city deputy comptroller for finance and development, told the St. Louis Airport Authority earlier this month. “We’re ready to move on from there.”
A proposal submitted by the comptroller’s office recommends comparing Lambert with airports in San Jose, Calif., and Indianapolis. Those airports enjoy better credit ratings than Lambert, even though they have fewer boardings and debt levels comparable to those in St. Louis.
Airport Commissioner John Sonderegger said the comptroller’s plan appeared to reflect grudging acceptance of Lambert’s place as a midsize airport.
“To me, it was like raising a white flag,” said Sonderegger, a recent appointee from St. Charles County and a former columnist for the Post-Dispatch. “We surrender. We are not going to be an LAX.”
The FAA rates airports as large hubs if they individually account for at least 1 percent of the total passenger boardings in the United States. In 2006, there were 30 such hubs. Lambert just missed the cut at No. 32, with slightly more than 7 million passengers boarding planes from its gates. The FAA hasn’t released its 2007 rankings.
Airport and City Hall officials say the credit-rating strategy is not a retreat from their ambition to restore Lambert to the league of large U.S. hubs. If Lambert cracks the list, Airport Director Richard Hrabko said, it will mark an important milestone that shows Lambert is recovering from the 2003 cuts.
“As far as I am concerned, when the official numbers come out for 2007, we will be back in the large hub category,” Hrabko said recently.
Meanwhile, the airport continues to aggressively pursue commercial air carriers and is trying to develop air freight business. Last month, a group of St. Louis leaders went to China in hopes of promoting international trade in this part of the Midwest. Lambert officials are looking to double the airport’s ability to handle air cargo.
“I would say that while this is a long-term project, everything we heard said there’s a lot of interest in this,” said Richard C.D. Fleming, president of the Regional Chamber and Growth Association.
Today, commercial air carriers at Lambert collectively average 348 departing passenger flights a day. American Airlines and its regional partners generate 158 daily flights, compared with 417 before the schedule was slashed.
American spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said Lambert was “right-sized to meet the needs of the local St. Louis traveler” but did not lose its hub status in the eyes of the air carrier. By contrast, she noted, the airline no longer considers San Jose, Nashville, Tenn., or Raleigh-Durham, N.C., airports among its network of hubs.
St. Louis’ push for growth at Lambert comes during difficult economic times. High fuel prices and a shaky national economy are putting a squeeze on the industry.
Virginia-based aviation consultant Darryl Jenkins said Lambert’s strategy to emphasize its second-tier status for bond ratings mirrors what should be the long-term expectation for the airport.
Other former top hub airports, like Pittsburgh, have successfully settled into that kind of role, he noted.
Unless the metro area experiences dramatic economic growth, Lambert won’t grow significantly beyond current traffic levels, Jenkins said.
“That’s why it is very unlikely (Lambert) will ever be a major hub.”
kleiser@post-dispatch.com — 314-340-8215
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