The Islip Town Board will decide today whether to allow Long Island MacArthur Airport to pay a private consultant assist it with several critical issues.
The board is scheduled to vote today on a $30,000, six-month contract between the airport and Andrew Vasey, an Indianapolis-based consultant with nearly 30 years of experience in aviation-economic development.
Vasey, president of professional services firm Vasey Aviation Group, has led program-management teams at the $130 million Branson Airport in Missouri, the nation’s first privately financed passenger airport, and development efforts during the $1 billion Midfield Terminal construction project at Indianapolis International Airport.
“I think Long Island MacArthur is facing a lot of the same challenges a lot of airports are facing now,” said Vasey, who’s also held staff positions at U.S. Airways and now-defunct TWA. “The airlines have merged so there are fewer of them, and they have a lot more capacity constraint. Airports have to look at the landscape as it relates to revenues and air service in more creative ways. ”
Both Vasey and Airport Commissioner Robert Schaefer cited critical concerns such as the Ronkonkoma Hub project, the relocation of the FAA’s TRACON air-control facility and the expansion of local airline routes. Schaefer said Vasey could be tackling those issues in as soon as a month if Town Board members approve his $5,000 monthly fee.
“He has a lot of knowledge,” said Schaefer, who met Vasey when the consultant represented Dallas-based Southwest Airlines during the airline’s MacArthur expansion seven years ago. “He has experience in all kinds of projects we’re working on. There’s the proposed rapid transit system, and we still have a master plan that can be adjusted, and there’s the Ronkonkoma Hub and TRACON. And he works with a lot of the airlines I’m looking to target. ”
Schaefer wouldn’t say which airlines he was hoping Vasey might help lure to MacArthur, but Vasey Aviation Group’s website lists experience with six airlines, including United, U.S. Airways, Skybus and Dublin, Ireland-based Ryanair.
“He knows airlines,” Schaefer said. “Just using him for his contacts would give us an advantage. ”
Vasey’s group can also provide public relations services, according to the commissioner, who noted LIMA has been without a PR officer since Victoria Ryan left the post in February after just one month on the job.
“He fills a lot of roles for us,” Schaefer noted. “More bang for the buck, which is good. I’m a little cheap. ”
Airport officials didn’t circulate an official Request for Proposals in their search for a consultant/PR guru, though they did consider multiple candidates.
“Everybody had something we wanted,” Schaefer said, but only Vasey “seemed to have it all. This makes more sense than going out and hiring an expert in light rail, an expert in airlines, three different experts for three different things. ”
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© 2013 Dolan Media Newswires. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2013 Dolan Media NewswiresAll Rights Reserved
