Tampa Int'l Airport chief's middle name is hawk
Aay in the Life Tampa International CEO Joe Lopano
BY TED JACKOVICS
The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA -- Tampa International Airport chief executive Joe Lopano pulls his gun-metal-gray Mercedes C350 into the parking garage of a swank West Shore office complex.
It's 7:45 a.m., and he's about to get his first chance of the day to market the airport. He is meeting local business officials at the Tampa Bay Partnership's seventh-floor conference room that boasts a postcard-perfect view of the downtown skyline.
Armed with a 14-slide PowerPoint presentation of the airport's first master plan update since 2005, Lopano launches into a sales pitch he will give twice more that day.
"This is our turnaround plan," Lopano says, showing how he intends to overcome a "triple perfect storm" of the national economy, the regional housing slump and the scare from the BP oil spill that combined to drive airport traffic down 14 percent from its peak in 2007.
Lopano wants to upgrade Tampa International's nationally renowned terminal that's 40 years old, and create more revenue and jobs from the airport's real estate.
He tells the group the plan is backed by a change in direction and philosophy to energize Tampa's quest for more flights -- particularly to international destinations -- and to focus on the airport's regional economic development role.
Lopano, the airport's CEO since January, quickly goes off script to tell about a competitor for air service during his previous job as vice president of marketing and terminal management at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
"We were trying to get a flight to San Francisco with Virgin America," Lopano says. "It was down to us and one other airport. We had an incentive package and the other airport didn't."
His punch line: The loser in that battle was Tampa International Airport.
Lopano is all about energy. And promotion. He's not bashful about mentioning how his strategy differs from previous Tampa airport administrations, though he's careful to avoid direct criticism.
To call a $250,000 a year executive a salesman is no insult. At least not to Lopano, who prides himself on his success in such a job.
"This is about relationships," Lopano tells the group. "Marketing starts with 'Hello.' When I get done talking with an airline about putting their $50 million airliner into Tampa International Airport, someone just like me from Kwangchow, China, follows me and does the same thing I'm doing."
There's time for a couple of questions: How can Tampa realistically compete with Orlando, New York and Miami for international flights? What good does St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport serve in the shadow of Tampa International?
The first question is easy. He cites financial and population data that favorably compares the Tampa Bay region with Orlando, notwithstanding Orlando's 10 major attractions that help its airport draw more than 35 million passengers a year compared with 17 million at Tampa.
As to the second question, Lopano explains differences in operations of the Pinellas County airport: It is a county-owned facility that hosts the nation's largest U.S. Coast Guard Air Station; it has plentiful general-aviation operations; it serves two dozen small city markets with low-cost giant Allegiant Air along with other leisure carrier flights.
The response is sensitive enough that a Pinellas member of the business gathering feels no need to pitch in.
Lopano finishes his presentation 23 minutes after he began. He spends another 15 minutes answering questions, then stays through the partnership's next presentation, which involves a website that keeps the local rail initiative alive, at least for discussion.
After a couple of minutes of one-on-one farewells with group members, Lopano and three of his top managers who attended his presentation head off to the airport.
Lopano arrives at his office in a corner of the third floor of the main terminal at 9:30 a.m.
It's decorated in nouveau airport director style, not unlike his immediate predecessor, with large models of commercial airplanes setting off a handful of family photos.Among the models is an Edelweiss Air Airbus A330, which he brought to Tampa for flights to Zurich beginning next year.
Lopano checks his schedule with administrative assistant Carol Marino, takes a chair at the end of a small conference table and pokes briefly through a print version of Aviation Daily, an industry trade journal, before Janet Zink, director of the airport's public information department, briefs him on his appointments.
First will be a representative from Air Transport World magazine whose company produces the Airports Today newsletter, among nearly two dozen aviation Web and print publications.
It's going to be a little tricky. The visitor is a sales representative for the publication who won't be conducting an interview for a story. He will simply be gathering information to possibly pitch a story to the editor.
That means Lopano must articulate the airport's direction, once again, but this time there's no guarantee of an immediate payback.
Following the interview and a half-hour in private telephone conversations from his office, Lopano heads to a quarterly airport tenant-manager lunch meeting with more than 40 vendors and airline station managers who are in charge of their firms' operations at Tampa International.
"You make the airport run," Lopano says, before introducing four new members of his executive staff. He turns the remainder of the meeting over to his managers for updates on the airport's quarterly performance, construction that's part of the master plan, preparation for next year's Republican National Convention in Tampa and air service plans.
After his lunch at the tenant/manager meeting, he has a one-on-one with an airport environmental official about a sophisticated computer program upgrade. It will improve the vision of how development proposals surrounding the airport will mesh with height and other aviation regulations.
Finishing before dinner, this will be a somewhat shorter work day than the previous one, which lasted well into the night for a Hillsborough visitors bureau banquet that commemorated the retirement of director Paul Catoe.
The next day, too, will be lengthy, closing with the annual evening Tony Jannus commercial aviation awards banquet that the chambers of commerce of Tampa and St. Petersburg host.
In Dallas, Lopano mostly worked behind the scenes, persuading airlines to come to or add routes there.
Here, Lopano has evolved into the face of the airport, the chief salesman to airlines, businesses and even his employees.
He has to promote the airport, keep the momentum going while news of Tampa International's success, such as launching charter flights to Cuba, is fresh.
Lopano walked into a challenging situation here. His bosses on a new aviation authority board and a small, vocal band of their colleagues craved a chance to influence airport activities.
They had drummed up enough conflict involving longtime airport director Louis Miller that Miller resigned.
Miller's reputation with airline and airport officials nationwide helped land him the job as head of the world's busiest airport in Atlanta, a result that seems to bedevil his local detractors, including board members who resurrected the previous administration's practices in board meetings.
That dynamic, along with some awkward fits and starts -- including a board member's proposal to give Lopano a $50,000 raise after just nine months, then a subsequent board proposal for a performance bonus when Lopano rejected the raise -- created momentary turbulence.
That's despite the board's consensus that Lopano's performance has been exemplary.
Lopano, in a few spare moments before his Air Transport World appointment, allows he was somewhat surprised that he couldn't work as quickly as he anticipated.
"I work fast," Lopano said, briefly removing his heavy black-rimmed glasses to wipe his eyes. "And we have done things quickly. But this is all working out a little longer than I expected."
In his meeting with Christopher Salem, the group advertising sales director for Air Transport World, Lopano repeats the "triple perfect storm" story.
He acknowledges it could take time to turn things around, noting that he worked for 10 years to get Qantas to start a flight between Dallas and Australia.
"So they did," Lopano says. "In May. After I got to Tampa."
Salem asks about what airlines Lopano is recruiting.
"Everybody," Lopano says. "That is, we are talking to everybody. The serious discussions are with fewer airlines, of course."
Salem promises to make a strong pitch with his editorial director for a story about Tampa International, but Lopano is not quite through.
"What's your favorite Florida airport?" Lopano asks. "C'mon," he prods, after Salem hesitates.
"Well, there's Fort Lauderdale, it's easier than Miami, and I like Tampa International," Salem responds.
He says he particularly likes the JetBlue flight from Tampa he will be taking to Westchester County Airport, N.Y., a convenient alternative the Connecticut resident prefers to New York's three major airports.
"That's a great flight," Lopano says as he bids Salem goodbye. "We're the gateway to the west coast of Florida," he says, getting in a final marketing pitch.
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Photo Credit: MAURICE CAPOBIANCO/STAFF
Photo: Joe Lopano's days are filled with meetings and greetings. As head of Tampa International Airport, he says his job is to market the facility and draw more flights.
Photo: Joe Lopano has become the face of the airport and the chief salesman to airlines, businesses and employees. Here, he talks to staff and vendors at a tenant meeting.
Copyright © 2011, The Tampa Tribune and may not be republished without permission. E-mail [email protected]
Copyright 2011 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune
