Airport Launches Marketing Pitch Aimed at Growth

EGG HARBOR

Campaign capitalizes on more hotel rooms, expansion plans in Atlantic City

ATLANTIC CITY International Airport wants desperately to be bigger, and is waging a marketing campaign that emphasizes the area's increase of hotel rooms, planned expansions at the airport and passengers' difficulty navigating busier rival airports.

"Realistically, over the next 18 months I'd like to be able to announce two new carriers in addition to more service from the existing carriers," says Sharon Gordon, director of communications and marketing for the South Jersey Transportation Authority, which owns the airport.

Currently, the airport has two major carriers, Spirit Airlines and Delta Air Lines, running a total of 14 flights in and out of the airport every day.

Gordon says she is talking with airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport in an effort to convince them to run some of their flights out of Atlantic City, where there is less congestion for the aircrafts on runways and for passengers in the terminal.

"We're working in concert with the Philadelphia and Newark airports," says Gordon, who notes, for example, that Continental Airlines in Newark could benefit by getting closer to passengers in South Jersey. And Newark Airport could benefit by relocating some flights to reduce overcrowding at its facility, she says.

Gordon seems to have more ammunition than ever as she wages the airport's long-running battle to convince airlines that Atlantic City Airport is a place they should be. The arsenal includes an explosion of new hotel rooms planned for the nearby gambling resort to attract air travelers; a new $24.5 million parking garage under construction that will more than double parking at the airport to 2,700 spots; and a $13.5 million planned expansion of the runway apron that will create space for more aircraft while freeing up space to eventually double the number of gates from seven to 14.

"This destination has arrived and the prospect for (attracting new) air service to Atlantic City has never been better," Gordon says.

But getting airlines to move to Atlantic City isn't easy.

"The greatest barrier to our marketing efforts is our proximity to Newark and Philadelphia airports," Gordon says. "We have overlapping markets, and the major airlines say they are already serving those markets. In their minds, they are comfortable in New York andPhilly."

It costs an airline $7 million to move to a new airport, and it's risky, Gordon says.

Here's her pitch to airlines in a nutshell: "You can save money and still capture the market. You can avoid congestion and air-space capacity issues. We are between New York and Philly and we have less congestion."

Atlantic City Airport is overcoming one of its longest-running problems-the small number of hotel rooms that limit the number of overnight customers the city attracts. The city has 18,000 hotel rooms, compared with Las Vegas where there are 120,000 hotel rooms, says Richard C. Perniciaro, director of The Center for Regional and Business Research at Atlantic Cape Community College.

The expansion of three casino properties-the Borgata, Harrah's Atlantic City and Trump Taj Mahal-will add 2,500 new hotel rooms next year, bringing the total number of hotel rooms in the resort city to 20,500.

Meanwhile, the planned construction of three new casino-hotels is expected to bring 9,000 more rooms over the next five years.

"There was always the thought you need at least 20,000 to 24,000 rooms to get [more] airline service in Atlantic City, and it is getting very close to that," Perniciaro says. "They are getting closer to where airline service gets more vital and more possible. The city has been aiming for that plateau."

Says Gordon, "New hotel rooms are going to jump-start the opportunity" to get more flights.

And the possibilities are endless, she says.

Within the 5,143 acres of the Atlantic City Airport site, you can fit Philadelphia International and Liberty Newark International airports and 60 percent of LaGuardia Airport. "That gives you an idea of the potential of the landing field," Gordon says. "The runway is large and can take on any weight and aircraft."

In fact, the airport-which is also home to the Federal Aviation Administration's William J. Hughes Technical Center, the New Jersey Air National Guard 177 Fighter Wing and a Coast Guard training facility-has been designated an alternative landing site for the space shuttle, Gordon says.

More people are discovering the convenience of Atlantic City Airport, where there is less congestion than the major airports-making it easier to get to, park and move through the terminal. In the first nine months of this year, 36 percent more passengers walked through the airport than the first nine months of last year, bringing the total to 740,469 passengers, according to the South Jersey Transportation Authority.

The increase is attributed to an expansion of flights including Spirit Airlines' daily nonstop service to Las Vegas, launched in May 2006, and the carrier's additional flights to Florida and Myrtle Beach, S.C. Delta, meanwhile, flies four daily flights between Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, a major hub airport.

"People are choosing Atlantic City because they are tired of fighting traffic and the hassle and stress in getting through the terminal in Philly," Gordon says. "The airport is easily accessible from the Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway."

Bart Mueller, executive director of the South Jersey Transportation Authority, says 81.6 percent of seats on flights traveling in and out of Atlantic City Airport were filled through the first half of this year.

"These numbers show that if you put seats in the [Atlantic City] market, those seats are sold," Mueller says.

It costs an airline $7 million to move to a new airport, and it's risky.