Frontier nixes Colorado Springs maintenance plans

A new heavy maintenance facility will not be built on the west side of Colorado Springs Airport.

Frontier Airlines decided against constructing a heavy maintenance facility in Colorado Springs as the low-cost carrier attempts to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Capacity cuts and fleet reductions eliminated the need for the facility, Frontier spokesman Steve Snyder says, noting the airline has been reviewing all projects as part of the bankruptcy process.

Instead of building its own facility, Frontier will continue to lease part of Continental Airlines’ hangar in Denver for heavy maintenance work.

Construction on the 100,000-square-foot hangar (30,480 square meters) had not started. The facility had been slated to open in or after April 2009.

The airline selected Colorado Springs because of the financial package offered by the airport and the ease of flying between Denver and Colorado Springs, roughly 100 miles (160 km) south, Snyder said when plans for the facility were first announced.

Incentives offered to Frontier and other airlines include a 100% rebate of personal business property taxes related to hangar construction materials, Colorado Springs airport director of aviation Mark Earle says.

The airline also received a combination of rebates and exemptions that equate to a 100% abatement of sales and use taxes for activity in the hangar for the life of the project, he says. Aircraft, aircraft parts, equipment solvents, materials, “anything used in the maintenance process” is included.

"Airport staff will continue to market the airport in an effort to attract successful airline maintenance projects such as the SkyWest maintenance facility which has been in operation since July 2007,” Earle says in a statement.

Panama Photo Shoot

Construction of Florida's new Panama City-Bay County International Airport is four months ahead of schedule, says Roy Willett, senior project manager for project/construction manager Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR).

Runway and taxiway paving begins this week. Pictured: The 10,000-foot, north-south commercial runway facing south.

By the time the new facility opens on May 31, 2010, some six million yards of material will have been moved at the airport, Willett says.

Eight gallons of fuel is used daily during construction, which began in January, he says.

The 105,000-square feet terminal will be built according to the US Green Building Council’s standards for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Pictured: The passenger parking lot.

Pictured: Airport executive director Randy Curtis.

New Indian airport in the works

Plans for a new Indian airport in the in the western state of Maharashtra received approval from a central government committee, the Ministry of Civil Aviation says.

North of Goa, the forthcoming facility in Sindhudurg will cater to domestic traffic and "could help in decongesting the Dabolim Airport in Goa," the committee says.

The state government of Maharashtra will seek bidders for airport construction.

Thanks to Nick Ionides in Flight's Singapore office for finding this story.

T is for Terminal

New terminals are sprouting up everywhere! If by everywhere you mean Raleigh-Durham International and New York John F. Kennedy International airports.

The New York terminal opens October 1, followed by the North Carolina terminal on October 26.

Known as T5, the first post 9/11 terminal to open at JFK will house 26 gates for JetBlue Airways. Down south, Terminal 2 will have 32 gates, and for the yuppies, an organic-food market.

(Architectural rendering from Raleigh-Durham International Airport. More renderings and construction photos can be found here.)

One is a lonely number

Runway construction will ground nearly all operations at Idaho Falls Regional Airport next month.

Only one of five carriers will continue service between September 2 and October 2. Horizon Air will maintain Boise flights using 37-seat Bombardier Q200s on a shorter runway while the 9,000 ft runway is rebuilt because of failing asphalt.

Loss of air service and related activities, such as car rentals and concessions, is expected to cost the airport $10,000 a day, director of aviation Len Nelson says. Actual construction is estimated at $9 million.

Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines/Skywest Airlines will bolster service at Pocatello Regional Airport to handle passengers from eastern Idaho.

Horizon will resume service to Seattle and Boise with 76-seat Bombardier Q400s on October 12; other carriers will resume Idaho Falls operations on October 2.

(Photo from Idaho Falls Regional Airport)

Blue-light special at Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach International Airport will lower landing fees and offer other incentives to entice new domestic and international service to the beach. As if the opportunity to shag wasn’t enough.

Landing fees for existing service will be lowered to 5 cents per 1,000 lbs of gross certified maximum landed weight (GCMLW), down 75% from the current fee of $1.97 per 1,000 lbs GCMLW.

Estimated cost savings to airlines is $1.2 million, says Lisa Bourcier, a spokeswoman for airport owner Horry County.

“We can’t sustain this every year but [we’re] willing to see if we can bring in new markets,” she says, adding that landing fees will be evaluated next year and will likely increase, perhaps to 75 cents per 1,000 lbs GCMLW.

For the second year in a row, seasonal landing fees will be waived between December and February to address the challenges of serving a seasonal destination and to encourage year-round service.

The waiver of seasonal landing fees is expected to save airlines $400,000, Bourcier says.

To attract new destinations, Myrtle Beach International will offer carriers the option of being invoiced at a rate of $2 per available seat for common use terminal area fees and security fees in-lieu of the rate formula in the standard service agreement. To be eligible for this option, carriers must maintain existing service at the airport and must operate 50-seat plus aircraft on the new route.

Landing fees and terminal rents will be dropped for new nonstop international service operated with 50-seat plus aircraft.

In light of rising fuel prices and airline plans to reduce capacity system-wide, Bourcier says, “We’ve been doing like every other airport, monitoring current service we have. We have pretty good service. We can always use more. That’s why [we] try to attract new markets and let the ones that served us faithfully know we appreciate them.”

Meanwhile, airport expansion plans have felt an impact. Horry County Council approved the construction of up to 18 additional gates at the airport terminal, which was built in the 1970s.

Phased in construction has been decided upon instead of adding 18 gates at once because of the uncertainty in the airline industry and the economic downturn, Bourcier says.

Design has been narrowed to three schematics and the county council will vote on a final layout in October, she adds.

Smaller planes, bigger gains

Construction at Canada's Prince George Airport prompted WestJet to wet lease smaller aircraft.

The Canadian carrier normally flies 100-seat plus next generation Boeing 737 aircraft between Prince George and Vancouver. Because the main runway will be closed for centreline lighting installation next month, WestJet will fly 37- and 50-passenger seat Dash 8 aircraft from Hawkair Aviation.

Dash 8s will add about 20 minutes to the thrice daily flights, WestJet spokesman Robert Palmer tells me in an e-mail.

WestJet and others will use a 5,500 ft. (1,676 m) east-west runway during construction instead of the 7,400 ft. north-south runway.

Regional operator Air Canada Jazz also flies Dash 8s on Vancouver-bound flights. However, that airline will feel less of an impact because it flies regional jets and Dash 8s to the airport, Prince George Airport general manager Stieg Hoeg tells me.

Runway closure is part of the airport's plans to extend the north-south runway to 11,400 ft. in an attempt to diversify revenue by attracting cargo operators flying on crowded Asia-North America routes, Hoeg says.

For airlines flying from the Pearl River Delta to the southern USA, stopping at Prince George Airport offers some operating efficiency and fuel savings, Hoeg explains.

While no cargo carriers have signed on with the airport yet, a lot of airlines are looking for ways to cut fuel costs, he says.

In July, Canada's office of the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities approved the airport's participation in the international air cargo transshipment program.

The program enables the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) to authorize foreign carriers to ship cargo through the airport to third countries, even if such rights are not provided for in Canada's bilateral air transport agreements.

New Caribbean Airport

St. Vincent and the Grenadines will replace its existing airport with a facility capable of accommodating international operations.

Existing E.T. Joshua airport can only accept short-range turboprop aircraft from neighbouring islands. Its runway is 4,700 feet.

Construction of the $217 million Argyle International airport will begin August 13. At present, only airfield design has been completed, a spokeswoman says in an e-mail. The terminal building, control tower and other facilities will be designed in the coming months, she adds.

The airport is expected to open on 375 acres on the eastern coast of St. Vincent by late 2011. The new airport is named for the coastal area on St. Vincent that it will occupy.

The new facility will have a 9,000-foot runway able to accommodate Boeing 747-400s, 737s, 767s, Airbus A300s and A320s and MD80 aircraft.

The existing airport will be converted for use by commercial properties and businesses.

Photo from Agency for Public Information (API) St. Vincent and the Grenadines.