• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

CVG Adds Rental Car Fee

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 October 2005, 06:00 CDT

By Bob Driehaus

The uncertain future of Delta Air Lines and its Hebron, Ky.- based subsidiary Comair will not deter Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport from launching a $60 million project to consolidate rental car facilities and move traffic out of Terminal 3's congested pickup area.

The Kenton County Airport Board, which governs the airport, on Monday approved a $3.75-a-day Customer Facilities Charge that will be added to the price of car rentals at the airport.

The money will be collected beginning Jan. 1 to pay for the three- phase project.

Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes and others have criticized the plan as unwarranted in the face of Delta's bankruptcy reorganization.

But Dale Huber, the airport's deputy director of aviation, told the board that the first phase of the project -- a ground transportation center -- was a pressing need.

"That item was needed yesterday," he said.

The ground transportation center will create one area where passengers can catch buses to long-term parking lots and rental facilities. Now passengers catch the buses along the curb of the terminals, which causes frequent traffic congestion.

The exact size and location of the center hasn't been designed, but it will be built just east of Terminal 3, within easy walking distance of baggage claim, Huber said.

Huber told the airport board that the final two stages -- a new consolidated complex for rental cars and a common busing system for all rental car companies -- can be built whenever demand dictates.

He said Hertz officials, at a meeting with rental car companies earlier this month, objected to instituting the fee on Jan. 1, wanting more time to prepare for it. The company also objected to the proposed location of the proposed rental car center.

Huber told the board that airport staff would work with Hertz and other companies to build a consensus on the location.

The new facility would bring together all the rental car companies that use the airport and include common kiosks for them, and be built north of the middle north-south runway. Its exact location and design have not been determined.

Part of the need driving the consolidated facility is the plan to reroute the airport's main road through existing rental car lots for the airport's long-term master plan.

Airport officials expect demand for rental cars to remain steady despite Delta's announced 26 percent cut in flights, which is expected to kick in in December. They believe most of the lost passengers will be those connecting through the airport and not using rental cars.

Should demand for rental cars stagnate or shrink, the projects can be put off indefinitely and the rental car fee can be canceled, Huber told the board.

Airport attorney Wil Ziegler told the board putting the program in place is sound planning because the demand for the rental cars is driven by visitors to the tri-state and will remain regardless of the future of airline carriers.

"We don't envision that the Greater Cincinnati market is going to get smaller," he said.

The fee will be in addition to two other taxes or charges already tacked onto the cost of renting a car at the airport: a 6 percent state sales tax and a 3 percent usage fee that supports Northern Kentucky Tri-ED, the economic development engine for the region.

The usage fee and a 9 to 11 percent assessment on the price of car rentals the car companies pay back to the airport general fund - - to offset the cost of road and facilities maintenance associated with the rental businesses -- add up to big money for Tri-ED and the airport. From the assessment alone, the airport collected $5.8 million for its general fund between September 2004 and August, Huber said.

Text of fax box follows:

$3M project

The estimated cost of a transportation center at Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International is $3 million.

Airport officials hope to complete construction by the end of 2006.

Source: Cincinnati Post

More News in this Category