OWB Airport Officials Seeking Airlines

It has been a good year for Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport and its director, Rob Barnett.

Four airlines recently competed for the airport's Essential Air Services (EAS) contract, its annual Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspection in June went without a hitch, it received the funding officials had hoped for, and it got the honor of seeing off 170 members of the Kentucky National Guard's 206th Engineer Battalion on Friday.

"These larger aircraft are a boon for the airport," Barnett said. "Not only is it a community asset, but if we didn't have an airport of this size, they (National Guard) would deploy elsewhere, like Louisville. The more operations, the better. These accomplishments are beneficial as they relate to enplanements and accommodating larger aircraft, allowing us to attract larger airlines."

To aid them in flaunting their accomplishments to attract more airlines, Barnett joined with Indiana-based aviation consulting firm Volaire to conduct an air market-service analysis.

The analysis, which began July 10, will take place through Oct. 1 and will aid Barnett in understanding the ebb and flow of potential passengers and the viability and direction the airport should take in attracting larger airlines, he said.

"Did they travel through Louisville? Where from? Where was their connection point?" he said. "Our consultant has the capability to define our catchment area and aid me in knowing what airports our patrons are coming from or going to. Looking at our Cape Air and Allegiant (Air) flights, I can improve our marketing strategies and strategically plan for areas and routes that we could possibly capture when I approach other airlines."

The airlines that he hopes to hook with the data from the analysis would be, like Allegiant, "at-risk" airlines. Meaning, they would not, like Cape Air, be federally subsidized and that the success or failure of the route would be solely on them, which is why the analysis is so important, he said.

The price tag for the analysis is $20,000, but that is not a cost that the airport had to shoulder on its own with the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation stepping in to pay half, he said.

"They understand the importance of a study like this," he said. "As well and the parameters of the study and what a new route could do. This is a partnership. This analysis goes past just now but really gives us the ability to plan for the future in an industry that is so tumultuous. Airlines grow and fail, the cost of fuel changes (and) routes change; there are so many factors. This allows us to stay on top of it by knowing what is successful in our market and developing working relationships with airlines to establish more routes."

Jacob Mulliken, 270-228-2837, [email protected]

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