The Indianapolis Airport Authority (IAA) has announced a new Passenger & Cargo Air Service Incentive Plan (Incentive Plan) and a new Transatlantic Incentive Supplement Plan (Transatlantic Plan) to attract additional routes and carriers to the Indianapolis International Airport (IND), with a focus on resuming transatlantic service.
“We are more committed than ever to increasing nonstop passenger and cargo destinations and resuming nonstop transatlantic service,” said Mario Rodriguez, executive director of the IAA. “Hoosiers are becoming more open to travel again, including international travel. We’ve seen passenger traffic to Europe quadruple since last spring, and are tracking strong against pre-pandemic demand.”
To support this growing demand, to re-establish transatlantic service, and boost economic development in Central Indiana, the IAA recently adopted its new Transatlantic Plan with increased incentives beyond those previously offered and in accordance with the FAA Air Carrier Incentive Program Guidebook. The Transatlantic Plan is available to any airline providing qualifying transatlantic service beginning or announced by the end of December 2022. It has a cap of $2 million per year and is funded for up to two years. Total support for any and all qualifying airlines will not exceed $4 million.
“We have heard our community’s request to prioritize resuming nonstop access to Europe. Our tourism, economic development, and corporate partners rallied behind Indy’s first transatlantic flight in 2018, and now there’s renewed focus and demand around it as we emerge from the pandemic,” said Marsha Stone, IAA senior director of commercial enterprise. “We are excited to have this incentive in place to strengthen our work in answering this need.”
The new airline Incentive Plan includes a mix of fee waivers and marketing support to aid in the attraction of new international flights, new domestic flights, new airlines to IND, and new international cargo flights. Simultaneous multi-city expansion benefits are available, and incentives will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. The Incentive Plan has a financial limit of $1 million for the first year, that once met, will be suspended until additional funds are approved.
In 2021, more than 7.1 million passengers traveled through IND, a 75 percent increase over 2020. Indianapolis outpaced peer cities in passenger demand recovery, welcomed two new carriers, added 22 new nonstop flights to 10 new destinations, and resumed nonstop service to five key markets including L.A., New York City, and San Francisco. IND, with the help of the world’s second largest FedEx operation and nation’s eighth-largest cargo facility, also saw air cargo totals reach the highest levels in airport history, recording a record 1.3 million tons of total cargo and 5.7 million tons of landed weight. FedEx continues to expand its operations as part of a multi-year $1.5 billion investment in facilities and infrastructure at the Indy airport.
Transatlantic service from IND was first announced in September 2017 with Delta launching nonstop flights to Paris in May 2018, but that route, among many others across the country, was halted in 2020 due to the pandemic.
