Airport in Helena, Mont., Raises Parking Fees By $1

By Eve Byron, Independent Record, Helena, Mont.

Jun. 26–As airlines struggle to stay aloft among rising gas prices and company mergers, airports are taking steps to keep costs low for the carriers that service their cities.

In Helena, which recently was named one of the top 100 communities most likely to lose airline services, that’s meant turning to passengers to pick up some of the costs that otherwise might have been passed onto the airlines.

For example, the Helena Regional Airport is increasing its parking fees as of July 1 from $2 to $3 per day, and from $10 to $15 per week. It’s the first increase in a decade, notes airport manager Ron Mercer, and covers the cost of the 125 parking spaces, plus security cameras, currently being added.

“The cost of operating an airport is rising substantially every day,” Mercer said on Wednesday. “In order to stay viable in the community, we are looking at how we can generate new noncommitted revenues to help keep our costs down so all of the costs to the airlines can remain low.”

He added that Helena’s parking fees are lower than at any other Montana airport, and the decision to raise rates by a full dollar a day seemed more feasible than increasing them incrementally during the past decade.

“Normally, they might go from $2 to $2.10 a year, then to $2.20 the next year, but we’ve found that it’s hard for people to have change sometimes. An even amount works better,” Mercer said. “– Most people from out of town look at our rates and laugh because they can’t believe they’re so low. But it works for us because it’s still income.”

A report released Wednesday by the Business Travel Coalition — an advocacy organization for business flyers — says that all six of Montana’s larger airports are at risk of losing some or all of their air services due to rising costs to airlines.

Helena, Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls, Missoula and Kalispell are home to some of the 100 airports at risk because of rising fuel costs, the report states. The communities aren’t ranked, but one concern that put them on the list includes proposed mergers, like the one moving forward between Northwest and Delta, both of which serve Montana cities.

Other criteria involve previous fluctuations in air service, which can be a sign an airline is struggling to remain profitable in that city; service by regional jets, which have become the least-profitable equipment for airlines and their feeder carriers to operate; and service by these feeder carriers, many of which are renegotiating contracts with the main carriers.

“We’re very aware of those situations and are doing things as we speak to try to find ways to offset costs of operating the airport, so we don’t have to pass those costs over to the airlines that are already impacted significantly by higher costs,” Mercer said. “We want to keep our rates as low as possible, so we try to have partnerships instead of pass-through costs. We just had a conversation about how we can reduce costs by 10 percent.”

He notes that counter rates for airlines in Helena are $15 per square foot, while they’re closer to $45 per square foot at other Montana airports, which helps keep airlines here.

Mercer is quick to add that with Delta, Northwest, United and Horizon all flying in and out of Helena on a daily basis, “we have the best service Helena has ever had.”

“These flights go to hubs in Minneapolis, Denver, Salt Lake City and Seattle,” Mercer said. “But our concern is whether we have enough passengers to fill those airlines’ seats.

“There are a lot of negatives going on and we’re trying to offset some of those by offering more incentives to airlines. But that costs money too.”

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Copyright (c) 2008, Independent Record, Helena, Mont.

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