Turbulent time for Willard Airport
Facing a recent
decline in passengers, an ever-changing industry and regional
competition, Willard Airport and its ambitious task force have plenty on
their plate
SAVOY — Late one afternoon in June 1950, a DC-3
named "City of Champaign-Urbana" by Park Air Lines took off from St.
Louis en route to a relatively new airport owned by the University of
Illinois.
That summer, after several years of delays, the Champaign-Urbana area saw the launch of regular commercial air service.
Since
then Willard has seen its share of successes (a well-regarded flight
school, American Eagle increasing the number of daily flights to
Chicago), disappointments (Delta pulling out, Vision Airlines'
short-lived stint) and at least one oddity (Air Force One stuck in the
mud).
Countless airlines (remember Ozark? Piedmont?), flights
(Nashville! Las Vegas! Cincinnati!) and committees later, community
leaders and area travelers are asking this question:
Where do we go from here?
"Willard
is a nice little airport. It's close. It's convenient," said Vivienne
Mackie of Urbana, who travels nationally and internationally about a
dozen times a year. Born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa, Mackie
and her husband have been in town since 1988. How often they fly out of
Willard varies year to year.
"We've used (Willard) ever since we've been here, but not as frequently as in the beginning," she said.
Why not? Cheaper fares out of other airports. Wanting to fly on airlines that don't service Willard. Scheduling conflicts.
Other
travelers will say it's the parking fees ($5 a day). Some, like Lawson
Lau of Mahomet, who rack up frequent-flier miles on other airlines,
prefer to drive to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. There they
take advantage of park-sleep-fly packages, which involves staying at a
hotel one night, leaving the car there for free and then taking the
hotel's free shuttle to the airport.
"If they bring in another airline, like United, I'd consider (Willard)," said Lau, an area pastor.
UI
Chancellor Phyllis Wise, who in her 2-1/2 years on campus has made
economic development a priority, has asked a new task force to come up
with recommendations on how to keep and expand air service at Willard
Airport. As a follow-up to a 2011 study done for the Champaign County
Economic Development Corporation, the task force also will examine and
make recommendations on a governance structure for the airport, which is
owned and operated by the university.
They've got about a year to do their work.
The
challenge facing the group is, "What can we do with the airport to not
only have it be successful but be an economic engine for the community?"
said its chairman, retired Champaign city manager Steve Carter. "And
how can we do that in a sustainable way, not just for a year or two but
something we can count on for several years in the future."
"If it was easy it probably would have been done a while ago," Carter added.
The
UI and Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District plan to hire a consultant
to help the group facilitate the process this year. The cost is
estimated at about $100,000, with the UI paying for about 90 percent and
MTD covering 10 percent.
From here to where?
Right now
American Eagle offers several flights daily to Chicago and one flight
daily to Dallas/Fort Worth. A Nevada resort also offers flights via Sun
Country from Willard.
On a recent American Eagle flight to
Chicago, Candy Dobson of Cerro Gordo was headed to Charlotte, N.C., to
visit her nieces, and Joanne Manaster of Champaign was headed to Abu
Dhabi for a sustainability conference.
It was Dobson's first time
flying out of Willard (she normally uses the Central Illinois Regional
Airport in Bloomington). After her recent, hassle-free experience, she
plans to consider Willard more.
"Check-in was really easy. The whole process was easy," she said.
As
for Manaster, how often she flies in and out of Willard depends on
who's paying for the ticket (if she's traveling for work, on a fixed
honorarium or for pleasure) and which carrier she plans to fly. If it's
going to cost her an extra $300 or so to fly the leg from Champaign to
Chicago, she'll drive to Chicago, "even though it makes for an extra
long day of travel," she said.
"The key is air service," said
Bruce Walden, director of real estate planning and services and whose
responsibilities include Willard Airport. "All other things go away, the
issue of parking goes away. It's the ability to have air service that
goes where people want to go at a frequency that gets them there when
they want to get there and at a price that is tolerable. That's the
key," he said.
Approximately 16 percent of travelers in the area fly Willard, Walden said.
The
number of "enplanements" (passengers boarding planes) at Willard has
dipped in recent years, especially since the departure of Delta Airlines
in 2010. A decade ago the number was around 118,000. In 2012 the number
slipped to about 86,000; 2013 figures haven't been finalized yet,
according to Walden. In comparison, the Bloomington-Normal airport had
240,181 enplanements in 2012.
(In terms of takeoffs and landings,
Willard is among the busier airports in the state due to activity
associated with the UI's Institute of Aviation, Walden said. The UI had
planned to close the institute, but Parkland College is taking on those
aviation programs this year.)
University employees are the
biggest users of the airport. There's no mandate for them to fly in and
out of the local airport, but many do. The UI's annual expense out of
Willard is about $5.6 million, according to UI Associate Chancellor Mike
DeLorenzo.
As the university considers expanding service, officials have been looking east. Specifically Washington, D.C.
"With the amount of federal research we're engaged at the university ... the focus would be going east," DeLorenzo said.
Second
place is the West Coast, such as San Francisco, due to UI researchers
and employees of area technology companies doing business in Silicon
Valley.
Mackie's first choice?
"Atlanta's a good hub. From there you can go almost everywhere," she said.
Maybe
it was the 30-mile-an-hour winds or snow flying on the day Manaster was
set to takeoff, but she would like to see a flight to the south, maybe
Orlando?
When considering the future of Willard, one must ask the
question, what is the future of the airline industry, said Alan Nudo,
president of Robesons Inc. and a member of the task force. (Nudo has
also sat on the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation's
airport committee.)
In an era of increasing consolidation, jet
fuel prices trending three times higher than they were a decade ago, the
airport and the task force face steep challenges.
"All
(airlines) have is capital equipment, and they move that capital
equipment to where they can make a profit," Nudo said. "They will move
their assets — planes — to where they can make money," he pointed out.
It's
not unusual for airlines to demand revenue guarantees from communities
in which they launch new service. In 2012, the UI was awarded a $500,000
grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Small Community Air
Service Program to expand air service to the East Coast. The federal
program helps fund revenue guarantees as well as marketing costs.
The
UI's efforts to add East Coast service were put on the back burner for
some time while the American Airlines/US Airways antitrust case was
settled with the U.S. Department of Justice.
In 2000, the U.S.
had about 11 major airlines (Northwest, Delta, United, Continental,
AirTran, Southwest, ATA, American Airlines, TWA, US Airways, America
West). Today there are four: Delta, United, Southwest, American.
"The
industry has gone through such a big changes. We can't underestimate
this merger," said DeLorenzo about American/US Airways.
"Now
we're down to four airlines trying to serve major and regional airlines.
Competition is great. It's difficult (to expand air service) but we're
continuing to look at it. That's why want to get community input to help
us through this process," he said.
Business opportunities
As
part of its work, the task force also will look at how the airport can
drive economic development in the region. That entails supporting and
expanding aviation-related businesses and other opportunities at the
airport.The airport property encompasses about 1,700 acres and some of
that land is farmed. Those operations do bring in a good chunk of
revenue to the airport, about $274,000 annually.
The airport
itself employs about 22 people. Adding in other businesses that operate
at the airport, such as Flightstar, the number is around 260.
"I
think the airport is a driver for growth as well," not just
aviation-industry related growth, but for all companies looking at
Champaign-Urbana, said Dan Sholem, an equipment finance consultant and
member of the task force.
"It's a job generator pure and simple," Nudo added.
"When
national (business) concerns come in and look at a city (for a possible
location), they have a checklist. One item is, is there an airport that
gets me in and out in an efficient way? If a business is told, well,
you can drive 40 minutes to Bloomington's airport, why wouldn't the
business then locate in Bloomington?" Nudo asked.
UI role
The
fact that the university is an airport owner and operator is rare.
(Penn State's University Park Airport is owned by the university, but
the terminal is managed by an airport authority.)
The university does subsidize its operations by about $433,000 annually.
Over
the years, consultants and community members have floated other options
for how the airport could be governed, such as by a local airport
authority, a contractor that would manage operations, a city department,
or even the C-U MTD.
At the time of the governance study (2011),
UI officials were quoted as saying running an airport was not a "core
competency" of the university.
When asked if the university ever
intends to get out of the airport business, Chancellor Phyllis Wise said
earlier this week the university is "trying to work out an
organizational structure that will work for this community, because we
realize that a really good airport is so important to people being able
to get in and out of the city. We're working on whatever it will take,
whatever organizational structure it will take, to be able to do that,"
Wise said.
Whether or not that means hiring an airport management
company or establishing a new local governmental body to run it, Wise
said, "We're thinking about all sorts of different alternatives."
Added
DeLorenzo: "The answer is it's not part of our core mission to operate
an airport." However, the airport is "integral to the success of the
university," in terms of recruiting faculty, helping researchers move
around the country and world, he said.
"I think it's going to
have to be some kind of joint venture," said Urbana Mayor Laurel
Prussing, "a public-private thing so no one (city or agency) gets
overburdened."
The university has supported Willard since 1945,
the year the airport was established, and the community has benefitted
from it since then, Nudo said.
He has had held informal meetings
with people from the private industry to hear their ideas and concerns
and to drum up support for the airport.
"It's time for the community to be a part of this, to assist in making sure the future of Willard is bright," Nudo said.
Committee examines airport
What it is: Willard Airport Governance and Sustainable Air Service Advisory Task Force
Its
aim: To essentially develop a business plan, to submit recommendations
to Chancellor Phyllis Wise for short and long-term strategies to sustain
and expand local air service. Also provide recommendations on the
governance of the airport.
The group has met twice so far and plans to submit recommendations by the end of the year.
More
info: Several reports are available on airport's website under the
"task force tab" on the airport's homepage, http://www.flycmi.com. A
report with basic information about the airport is here.
Counting fliers
The number of Willard Airport enplanements (passengers boarding a flight), according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
2007 112,440
2008 98,225
2009 88,068
2010 85,715
2011 83,731
2012 86,408
Willard Airport (airport code CMI) ranked 232 in the nation for enplanements in 2012.
Bloomington-Normal's airport ranked 161.
2013 numbers not available yet.
Willard Airport expenditure averages, 2009-2013
Personnel/benefits: $1.332,091
General Services (e.g. insurance): $272,744
Utilities: $251,072
Supplies/Materials: $177,885
Other (Debt service/loan; telecomm/prof services, advertising, etc.): $270,242
Willard Airport revenue averages, 2009-2013
Parking: $470,272
UI/state funds: $433,707
Terminal space rental (incl FAA tower, TSA space): $432,762
FBO/T-Hangar: $394,457
Rental car commissions: $327,795
Farm sales: 274,194
Landing fees: $111,879
Misc. rev/other sales: $26,573
Source: University of Illinois
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