LOVELAND — Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport officials have turned
to the business community for help as the airport charts a new course
following the departure of Allegiant Air.
Airport and Northern
Colorado Economic Development Corp. officials met with a group of area
business people Tuesday at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland to
discuss airport growth. The meeting was part of an effort to develop a
"comprehensive air service development and marketing strategic plan,"
according to an NCEDC statement.
That plan will address general
and corporate aviation along with commercial air service and airport
aviation business development, Airport Director Jason Licon said. The
airport has contracted with Washington, D.C.-based airport management
company AvPORTS to develop the plan.
Representatives from the
cities of Fort Collins and Loveland as well as Larimer County and
"numerous private businesses" attended the meeting, according to NCEDC.
Allegiant
Air stopped its flights from the airport to Las Vegas and Phoenix in
October. Allegiant CEO Maury Gallagher blamed the lack of an air-traffic
control tower and too many general aviation aircraft in Fort Collins
skies.
The withdrawal came after the airline had flown
planes at the airport for nearly a decade and despite a 26-percent
increase in the number of passengers boarding planes from the airport.
The
airport is home to a number of business jets, including ones owned by
Woodward Inc., Crop Production Services, billionaire Pat Stryker's
Bohemian Foundation and mobile-technology case maker OtterBox.
Business leaders have called for airport improvements.
OtterBox
CEO Brian Thomas told the Business Report in November that simple
upgrades could make the airport a "real economic driver for our
community." Those upgrades, he said, could include a repaved parking
lot, landscaping and improved signage; terminal improvements such as
food services, ticketing counters and a basic baggage system; and safety
considerations such as an air traffic control tower and crosswind
runway.
The airport, however, has slashed its $6.5 million
project wish list in half as a result of Allegiant Air's defection, as
the Business Report wrote in November.
Source: http://www.ncbr.com