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

Airport Fancies More Flights: Air Summit Pitches Rosy Forecast

Posted on: Thursday, 13 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Mike Keller, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Apr. 13--BILOXI -- For the Coast economy to take off, government and business leaders told airline executives at an air service summit on Wednesday, passenger air carriers will have to get on board early.

Gov. Haley Barbour and officials from gambling, development and capital investment interests gave their best pitches to the airlines to direct more flights to Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport.

"A bunch of money is going to get made down here. A bunch of airlines will make some of that money," said Barbour. "This isn't about philanthropy. It's business. It's good business."

Barbour touted the Mississippi Coast as the next world-class tourist destination in America and said that more flights were integral to a revitalized and bigger economy.

Jerry St. Pe, the chairman of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, continued the hard sell to an audience of about 70 people.

"Do your companies and your shareholders a favor by finding a way to invest down here," St. Pe said. "You'll look back on the decision as one of the wisest investments you could have made."

St. Pe expects four or five more casinos of the 13 total on the Coast to be reopened by the end of 2006. He said that the entire industry will be operating at 80 percent of pre-Katrina levels by the end of 2007.

Mark Calvert, the managing director of Cascade Capital, an investment banking firm, presented a rosy forecast of the Coast's economy and housing. He said that his projections were based on more than $8 billion in federal government funding, capital investment in area infrastructure and casinos and a belief that new buildings will be constructed to withstand hurricanes.

"We do believe that this market will become a tier one destination," Calvert said. "It is clear that this market will grow."

Calvert projected that the area would eventually have 30,000 hotel rooms and 788,000 square feet of convention space.

Bruce Frallic, the director of the airport authority, said that projects totaling $175 million were under way to rebuild and expand the airport. He said that the projects would bring the airport's yearly capacity up to 2.2 million trips.

"All this investment in the airport is going to make it a first-class destination," Frallic said.

Frallic also said that local ordinances were already in place and the airport already owned enough land to expand for the projected increase in use.

"We are ready to lengthen the second runway to carrier length and we can add a second parallel runway to the one we have now," Frallic said. "We are prepared to accommodate 20 million passengers a year."

Dale Morris, the managing director for government affairs at American Eagle regional airlines, which flies into Gulfport and is a subsidiary of American Airlines, said that he was impressed with the summit.

"I wish more communities would do this type of meeting," Morris said. "I think they have a definite plan. From an airline perspective, it's very positive."

He said that airlines are facing tough times, though, and the airport would have to show the industry that it is a solid investment. Low ticket prices and high gas costs make margins too tight for easy expansion of services.

"You have to be very careful when you look at expansion," Morris said. "Communities have to make sure that all of the costs to attract more air travelers does not filter down to the carriers. We are happy with the way things are going and we see a very positive trend. We'll see where that takes us."

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:AMR,

Source: The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)

More News in this Category