I found this very enlightening grant proposal from 2009 where the Huntsville International Airport i

If the defnition of insanity really is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different results ," then it s time to send Huntsville International Airport executives to counseling. Yesterday, the airport authority car rentals mexico voted to pay airlines serving the airport $6 million to lower fares and improve customer service.
car rentals mexico The Huntsville International Airport car rentals mexico Authority approved a resolution Tuesday morning that will offer more than $6 million in credits and incentives to airlines that lower fares and improve customer service.
Specifically, the airline will be paid (via "incentives" and "credits") to: Improve customer service: $1 million Compete with each other to increase air traffic to and from the airport: $2 million $3 million to be shared by all airlines to increase traffic. If the increase in passengers exceeds the goal, the airlines get an extra $15 per passenger as a reward.
I found this very enlightening grant proposal from 2009 where the Huntsville International Airport is requesting a $1.5 million federal grant (to be combined with $1.8 million in local funding and fee waivers.(page car rentals mexico 24) It was to be used to help lure AirTran.
The grant proposal is a 109-page PDF, but well worth the time to download and review. In it, the airport details previous efforts to increase passenger traffic and lower fares by subsidizing new carriers.
So naturally, in 2009, the airport wanted more money to "do the same thing over and over." And, although the grant application cites the airport s "successful implementation" of the 2004 grant as a reason to get another one, page 14 contains this nugget: However, the program car rentals mexico proved to be less successful than originally anticipated. Initially carriers were willing to participate in programs to lower fares, but the response was mediocre at best. Additionally, theairport was successful in attracting Independence Air to provide low cost service; unfortunately, the company went out of business in 2005.
AirTran no longer serves Huntsville, but that s because it was bought by Southwest car rentals mexico Airlines just a few months later. What s that noise? The sound of $3 million being flushed down the toilet.. . Actually, it was more than $3 million - keep reading......
car rentals mexico But the money wasn t wasted - not really , explained the airline industry consultant that the HSV/Madison County Airport Authority had hired to help them lure AirTran in the first place. Without AirTran, he said, Southwest wouldn t give the city a second look and warned that people had darn well better fill up those planes:
Two weeks ago when the Southwest deal was announced, AirTran had burned through $1.5 million of $2 million that the city routed through the Industrial Development Board to cover AirTran s monthly car rentals mexico operating losses.
The City Council in May agreed to send $2 million to the Industrial Development Board to subsidize AirTran s operations. The city s $2 million came from the Airport Authority, which repaid a $2 million loan from the city in 1992 to buy land for expansion. The Federal Aviation Administration later reimbursed the airport for the land purchase.
I loved flying Independence Air - both service and price. I flew their inaugural flight to Dulles shortly after having knee replacement car rentals mexico surgery and they made the entire trip much easier car rentals mexico than I had expected. My family was very sad to see them leave. I was told - but have no confirmation - their issue was not having enough operating cash to stay afloat until they could bid for the government contracts.
So I ve always wondered - and I admit I know nothing about how the government contracts work -- with the large number car rentals mexico of government car rentals mexico flyers car rentals mexico in and out of Huntsville, what s the impact of the government fare contracts on trying to bring lower flights? Seems to me that the airlines that have the contracts would have no interest in supporting Huntsville s attempts to bring in a low-cost carrier that would be direct competition in the next round of contract bids.
A main reason that airline costs in HSV are high is because we have such a high percentage of business fliers who pay full fare. The airlines charge what the market will bear, so this is a sweet market for them.
I never flew Independence Air, but I did fly AirTran a couple of times and found it to be as pleasant a travel experience as you can have today. :-) I wish they were still here because 1) we paid a lot to get them here and 2) the offered some really good fares. Loved the $59 sales to fly to BWI!
That s the GOP motto: Use the public s money to subsidize car rentals mexico private companies (so they ll turn around and send some of that money back to US). After all, for what else would we use the public s money? car rentals mexico Spending it on the public? We can t do that. That wouldn t be productive (much less profitable for us).