May 5--Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is sweetening its offer to carriers willing to bring new service to North Texas.
The airport board approved a new incentive program Thursday that, for the most lucrative flights, would offer up to $1.2 million in landing fee rebates and marketing support.
The program revises two other incentive efforts -- one that offered free gates in Terminal E after Delta Air Lines Inc. left, and another paying out matching funds for carriers that launch advertising campaigns for new service.
Joe Lopano, who heads D/FW's marketing effort, said the previous programs had become outdated.
For example, the Terminal E program offered incentives for carriers taking a minimum of 10 gates. But after shifting several carriers over from elsewhere at the airport, Terminal E has just five empty gates in the main building and nine at a satellite.
And the offer of matching funds for new service had become less appealing in a struggling industry that prefers "cash up front," Mr. Lopano said. "The market moves fast, and this new program gets us out in front."
D/FW's carrier-assistance program was pioneering when it was developed in the late 1990s. But the program now faces aggressive competition from other airports around the country.
And industry pressure, particularly from rising fuel prices, has made it more difficult to attract new carriers. "We have airlines that are much more skittish about starting new service," Mr. Lopano said.
Spirit Airlines, a carrier that launched service under the program, has pulled back. Spirit started with daily flights to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., earlier this year but now flies twice weekly, due to fuel costs and a change in its fleet.
The top incentives in the new program would be paid to airlines offering wide-body international flights. New service using smaller aircraft, or to domestic destinations, would be offered significantly less.
Airport officials said daily international service by a wide-body aircraft could inject as much as $350 million in direct and indirect economic impact to the region.
The new program allows airport officials to spend in incentives as much as $7 million a year, but not in excess of $20 million total, by 2009. That's up from $1.95 million the airport had available this year.
Up to $350,000 annually could be used to offer incentives for carriers to stay at the airport, something that wasn't included in previous programs.
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