Newport News Airport Officials Fear Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Could Lead Airlines to Pull Out and Consolidate in Norfolk

The Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport is sounding the alarm.

The economic chaos sown by the new coronavirus — and the recent federal stimulus law designed to alleviate that chaos — could lead to the end of commercial air service at the airport, some officials fear.

On the surface, the stimulus bill, signed into law by President Trump almost two weeks ago, requires airlines to promise to keep flying out of markets they already serve to be eligible for billions of dollars in bailout money.

But in an order Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation interpreted that to mean that airlines serving Hampton Roads need to fly out of only one of the region’s two commercial airports in order to comply.

Delta Air Lines and American Airlines — the two remaining carriers serving Newport News — have not announced plans to consolidate operations at the larger Norfolk International Airport, where both already have service.

But the possibility that they could do so is alarming airport and government officials on the Peninsula.

York County Board of Supervisors Chairman Chad Green said he was highly concerned.

“On a scale of one to 10, I consider it an 11," he said of his level of concern.

“The airport is on the right track, and I would hate to see it lose service,” Green said. “People who don’t live here or haven’t been here don’t understand the different communities — the bodies of water and the community boundaries. If they kill air service out of Newport News, this could have a definitive negative effect on the public and all of the businesses around here.”

Given that airports are considered national assets, there’s little chance the Newport News airport would ever be closed for a lack of commercial flights.

But air carriers leaving the Peninsula — even temporarily — could significantly harm the airport and its crucial revenue streams going forward.

Newport News Airport Executive Director Mike Giardino began raising awareness last week about the DOT’s interpretation of the stimulus bill, calling Peninsula city and county leaders to drum up support.

He also called U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, as well as U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott, Elaine Luria and Rob Wittman.

While Delta and American “have given us no indication that they are leaving,” Giardino said, the possibility is highly concerning.

“If you’re the airline and you have the ability to consolidate your service in one location when you’re bleeding money, you might do it," he said. “They’re in dire straits, and this could incentive them to consolidate in Norfolk.”

He asserted that Congress did not envision that airlines could get federal money and then stop serving particular airports.

“I don’t think (the lawmakers) contemplated this," Giardino said. “The fact that airlines can choose to do this at all was not the intent of the legislation. The intent was to keep the airlines whole while they maintained some level of service."

One paragraph in the $2 trillion stimulus bill, also known as the CARES Act, was designed to protect air service to smaller communities.

The paragraph said that the Transportation Department is to require “to the extent reasonable and practicable” that airlines getting the money continue serving “any point” in the country they were serving before April 1.

The law added that the agency "shall take into consideration the air transportation needs of small and remote communities.”

But the rub is the phrase “any point."

Lawmakers didn’t define that term, and the Transportation Department used Bureau of Transportation Statistics to determine the locations.

When the DOT’s proposed order last week defined Norfolk and Newport News as serving the same point — meaning only one of the airports need be served — government officials from Newport News, Hampton, York County, Poquoson, and Williamsburg filed objections.

"We strongly believe even a temporary loss of air service at (the Newport News airport) would have a negative, long term impact on our business and regional economy — exactly what the Department and Federal government are trying to alleviate,” Green wrote in York County’s filing on Sunday, in language that mirrored the others.

But airlines also wrote to the DOT last week, saying they liked the flexibility afforded by the proposed rules.

“Delta strongly supports the (the Department of Transportation’s) proposals to give each carrier maximum flexibility to meet its domestic service obligations by ... serving any airport or combination of airports that provide reasonable access to the communities the carrier serves," the airline wrote.

The DOT’s proposal, Delta said, “reflect sensible, balanced approaches" that will provide "minimum air transportation access for all Americans during this emergency while recognizing the economic reality that carriers must still attempt to match capacity to demand.”

The DOT issued its final order Tuesday, siding with the airlines.

“The ability of carriers to consolidate operations at a single airport serving a point is an important flexibility that furthers the objectives of the CARES Act,” the order said. “Requiring carriers to continue service to multiple airports serving a single point would impose undue costs on covered carriers."

The agency added, however, that “nothing in this order prevents carriers from serving multiple airports at a given point, if they so choose."

The Newport News airport is the only airport in Virginia affected by the DOT’s order. Commercial airports in Roanoke, Lynchburg, Charlottesville and the Shenandoah Valley — most of them smaller than Newport News — are not in the footprint of a larger airport and are their own “points.”

But a handful of other airports around the country are in the same boat. The Akron-Canton Airport in Ohio, for example, is in the same “point” as a larger airport in Cleveland, the DOT ruled. The T.F. Green Airport outside of Providence, R.I., falls into the same zone as Boston’s Logan International Airport.

Like Newport News, the airports in Providence and Akron-Canton also have objected to the DOT’s order.

American Airlines said Tuesday that it “continues to serve" both Newport News and Norfolk.

When asked if that would continue in the months ahead, American spokesman Ross Feinstein wrote in an email: “Due to decreased customer demand, we have made several changes to our schedule in this rapidly changing environment. At this time, none of those changes include ending service to Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport.”

A Delta Air Lines spokeswoman, Kyla T. Ross, on the other hand, released a far shorter statement: “We’re reviewing the final DOT order and have no plans to share at this time.”

With planes flying only about 10 percent full these days, both airlines have already cut back service to Newport News, as airlines have to other destinations around the country.

Delta had been flying three times a day to Atlanta — with connections from there to other destinations — but has cut back that back to one a day, Giardino said.

American, for its part, was flying 7 flights a day to Charlotte and three to Philadelphia. But under a new schedule released this week, it now flies three times a day to Charlotte and five flights a week to Philly.

“On Monday we had 28 passengers — 28," Giardino said of the Newport News airport. “Normally this time of year, the week before Easter, we’d have 600 passengers a day."

It’s in the airlines’ best interest to continue flying out of Newport News, he asserted. Before the coronavirus struck, Giardino said, “our load factor was extremely high" — meaning that planes were often packed.

“When everything is normal, we have very good cost structure for airlines," he said. “We’re a good value for the airline when things are going well ... So if they leave, the airlines would be walking away from a model where they are actually making more money per trip" than at other airports.

Giardino — who has spent the better part of two years trying to bring new carriers and flights to Newport News — said he’s going to work hard to keep American and Delta here.

“My mandate is to maintain service and grow service,” he vowed. "My job is to keep the airport going, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, [email protected]

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