Parker McClellan
WEST BAY — Parker McClellan will assume a new administrative seat at the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) next month.
The airport board approved a $135,000 per year contract with McClellan on Wednesday, poising the current deputy executive director to take over for resigning Executive Director John Wheat starting April 5.
The board wasted no time in deciding who would replace Wheat, unanimously voting for McClellan to fill the position at an emergency meeting earlier this month.
“I’m excited about the opportunity,” McClellan said following the meeting. “Working with (Wheat) has been a true pleasure both personally and professionally.”
McClellan has more than 25 years of aviation experience and is an accredited airport executive as designated by the American Association of Airport Executives. Prior to joining ECP in August 2010, McClellan served as senior director of airports for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
After two years as the executive director at ECP, Wheat is leaving to become the director of the Sacramento (Calif.) County Airport System, an opportunity he said he couldn’t pass up.
The board honored Wheat at the meeting for his accomplishments while at ECP; he leaves the new airport as the major force behind resolving a series of inaugural issues including lawsuits, environmental issues, cost overruns and cash flow shortages.
“We’ve turned a lot of corners,” Wheat said. “You guys have a great asset here. It’s a wonderful community asset and it’s going to do nothing but continue to grow into the future.”
Wheat also guided the Airport Authority through the final sale of the old airport site and continued environmental mitigation and is leaving ECP in strong financial health.
“I can honestly say when I leave here that I’ve accomplished what I came up here to do,” Wheat said. “One of the things I think we leave that’s so great about this airport is the board members we have. The only agenda with this board is doing what’s right for this airport, and that’s a rare commodity in airport authorities today.”
Board Chairman John Pilcher said that while the board hates to see Wheat go, he is confident in McClellan’s ability to keep the airport moving in the right direction.
“Every time you lose something, I think you gain something,” Pilcher said. “I think we will gain Parker in a position he will fit well into, and we’ll have an opportunity to hire a new assistant director that will complement everything we do out here.”
McClellan said he will continue to focus on ECP’s many projects including the construction of a new covered parking area, plans for a new crosswind runway, a nearly completed master plan and a continued effort to expand air service.
“We’ve accomplished a lot of things,” Wheat said. “We’ve set the base for the future, and the decision to keep (McClellan) and put him in that position is just going to ensure consistency.”
Traffic down 15 percent
Wheat reported February passenger traffic is down 15 percent over the previous year, stemming from a nearly 38 percent reduction in seats on Southwest Airlines flights out of ECP.
While the low-cost airline was running eight daily flights in February 2012, the number dropped to five this year. Southwest passenger traffic fell 25 percent for the month, with Delta posting a 3.5 percent decline.
Wheat expects traffic to continue to decline about 5 percent for March, with a 10 percent drop expected for the year. He said this year should mark a new base year in terms of traffic for the airport as Southwest now has a better understanding of the market’s seasonality.
“When we brought Southwest in, there were incentives provided for eight flights a day,” Wheat said. “We are a seasonal market, and during that season that’s when they bump up their service.”
Southwest added a daily flight to St. Louis this month and will add another daily flight to Houston beginning April 10.
“I just see this as an adjustment,” Wheat said. “We don’t see it as anything drastic or terrible or anything of that nature.”
Story, Photo, Reaction/Comments: http://www.newsherald.com
No comments:
Post a Comment