Lincoln Airport Doesn't Want Seat on Crowd-Funded Airline Plan

The Lincoln Airport has made it very clear: It is not interested in trying to help a Wisconsin man get his crowd-funded airline plan off the ground.

Michael Heisman, owner of a website called tripdeals.FUN, sent out a news release last month saying that four cities had been selected to participate in a plan to essentially build an airline route from scratch.

Members of an online community would vote on a business plan for an airline route, and if enough people committed investment to make it financially feasible, Heisman's company would charter flights from a licensed airline to make it happen.

Among the four choices was a plan to provide service from Lincoln to Orlando, Florida, and two other destinations.

Heisman spoke with officials from the Lincoln Airport and the airport's consultant in early June, but despite them expressing little interest in being part of his plans, he included the potential Lincoln route anyway, along with proposals that would provide service from Midland, Texas, and Augusta, Georgia, to Florida and service from Fort Myers, Florida, to two unnamed Midwest cities.

That didn't sit well with the Airport Authority, which had its attorney, Bill Austin, send Heisman a letter.

The letter said that Heisman's news release made it sound as if the airport is "participating in and supports your scheme, which is categorically incorrect."

The letter demanded that Heisman "make appropriate corrections and refrain from further casting the authority as a participant."

"The Lincoln Airport Authority has no interest in appearing to support your concept and thereby lend it official credence," Austin wrote.

Lincoln has for years been trying to attract additional air service and has a current grant from the federal government to try to entice American Airlines to start a flight to Dallas. The airport also was rumored to be a target of Sun Country Airlines last year, which wanted to start service to Las Vegas, but it could not raise private funds to provide a guarantee to the airline.

In addition, the airport also is losing service from Delta Air Lines starting next week through at least the end of September.

The Airport Authority, in a statement, said, "we are eagerly looking to grow our airline services and welcome any new opportunities that would benefit our local community."

But officials apparently do not consider the opportunity Heisman is presenting to be credible.

"We have a responsibility to do our due diligence by researching and looking into the background of any potential air service partner," the statement said. "We felt tripdeals.FUN would not be a good fit, as neither their product nor their entity embody the traits needed to be successful in Lincoln long-term."

Heisman's previous attempt to start an airline didn't end well. In 2013, he was CEO of a company called Met Jet that started flying from Green Bay, Wisconsin, to Orlando and Fort Myers, Florida. The company leased its planes from Sun Country.

The airline went under after operating flights for a little over a year, and while the company issued refunds to all customers who had bought tickets, it did not do so within the required 14-day time period. Heisman said the delay was caused by a credit card issue and the company had funds to pay the refunds in escrow, so there was never any danger of them not being paid. He signed a consent order with the Department of Transportation that prohibited him from being involved with another charter airline for five years.

He also signed a consent order and was fined $3,000 by the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions in 2018 in conjunction with another attempt to start an airline.

For his part, Heisman noted that the consent order from the Department of Transportation has now expired and the department has not raised any concerns about him attempting to start another airline.

"I always get amazed when people think that because someone falters once they should just go into a corner and sit forever," he said in an email.

As for the current effort, Heisman said he never misrepresented the Lincoln Airport's participation (or lack thereof).

He said the company was clear in its proposal that it approached Lincoln and not the other way around and it even used a disclaimer in its description of the Lincoln plan that pointed out that neither airport officials or the airport's consultant "seemed excited about the prospect of new service."

"We were proactive, as we saw potential in the market and thought Lincoln would be a fantastic city to bring vacation flights to, but it comes across to us that they are not interested in working with us … regardless of the reason," he said.

Heisman said he's "not going to fight to bring flights to a city that does not want them" and has removed the Lincoln proposal from the website.

"We as a company are no longer interested in working with Lincoln," he said. "We have other markets that are actively working with us and are truly interested in expanding their flight options."

Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or [email protected].

On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.

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