BWI Airport News

[Itus]

Everything BWI or Maryland Aviation!

...starting with two BBJ stories:

BWI adds real-time flight trackers, weather monitors
Baltimore Business Journal - by Scott Dance Staff
4/23/08

If you're skeptical when an airport announcement says a late plane will arrive in 20 minutes, you can now check for yourself at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The airport has installed several flight-tracker and weather-display monitors to show the real-time status and location of planes. The information feeds will come courtesy of Massachusetts-based company FlightView.

The monitors are next to traditional flight-information displays and show arriving flights in red and departures in blue, in addition to curent weather radar.

"These new flight and weather trackers offer an important customer service benefit," said Maryland Aviation Administration Executive Director Timothy Campbell in a statement. "The displays provide another source of valuable information for airport users."

According to FlightView, which is a subsidiary of RLM Software, more than 200 airports use the service. Financial terms of FlightView's deal with BWI were not disclosed.

"Airports are making a conscious effort to make travel less stressful for passengers," FlightView CEO Michael Benjamin said in a statement. "By looking up at a map and tracking their own flights -- whether through a storm or via a connecting airport experiencing delays -- travelers feel more in control and can better manage their travel plans on their own terms."

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore...l?surround=lfn

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BWI sees rise in 4Q airfares
Baltimore Business Journal - by Ryan Sharrow Staff
4/23/08

The average domestic airfare at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport increased 5 percent to $274.44 in the fourth quarter, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

That's up from the $261.19 fliers spent in the fourth quarter of 2006.

But BWI passengers are still spending less for a domestic flight than they were in 2000.

Domestic fares at the Linthicum airport have declined 1 percent since 2000. The average domestic flight out of BWI cost $277.37 in 2000.

BWI ranked 38th on the Department of Transportation's list ranking 100 U.S. airports with the highest one-year change in average domestic fare from the fourth quarters in 2006 and 2007.

Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport saw the largest fourth quarter increase, 16 percent.

Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National was second on the list with a 13 percent increase. The airport saw domestic flights increase from $336.56 in fourth quarter 2006 to $381.43 during the same period in 2007.

The average domestic fare at airports across the U.S. rose nearly 4 percent in the fourth quarter.

Charleston International Airport in South Carolina saw the largest drop in the cost of domestic airfare, down more than 18 percent.

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore...l?surround=lfn

[Itus]

Capital projects in the works:

Pier D/E Baggage Screening System and Baggage Claim Expansion - This project will reconfigure the existing baggage screening and baggage make-up system to an integrated baggage security and handling system. Improvements will include changes to the baggage system configuration, sort loop, curbside check-in, redundant feed for ticket counters, equipment, and expansion of the current building structure. Work will also include upgrade of baggage claim area. Construction 2008-2009/2010
(MDOT)

...and some repaving and expansion studies.

It doesn't really feel like much is going on construction-wise after the boom of the past 15 years.

[Itus]

...so according to OAG, the BWI-Toronto flights on Air Canada Jazz will be changing from 37-seater Dash-8s to (presumably) 50-seat Canadair regional jets in June, starting at 4 daily flights (as currently scheduled), to 5 daily by mid June. The extra flight will be on a Dash 8. The schedule shows these flights operating as such until the end of October. The increase in daily seats from Baltimore to Toronto would go from 148 to 237 on the weekdays. Does anyone remember if this was how the schedule worked last summer?

[Itus]

This probably related to post #2
Transportation: BWI awards $32 million pact
April 26, 2008

The state Board of Public Works has awarded a Hyattsville contractor, W.M. Schlosser Co., a $32 million deal to build a baggage system at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean said yesterday. The upgrade is expected to take two years and could enable AirTran Airways, the airport's second-leading carrier, to double its daily departures at BWI.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business...,4600163.story
---------------------------------
Chertoff to announce new airport security initiative at BWI
Airport will serve as a testing point for program called 'Checkpoint Evolution'
Sun reporter
1:51 PM EDT, April 26, 2008

The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is expected to announce a new security initiative for the nation's airports Monday at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, officials said today.

Michael Chertoff will announce the program -- Checkpoint Evolution -- which consists of "new security measures and technology" that were installed this week at the airport, said BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean. The airport will serve as a testing point for the program.

Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, confirmed Chertoff's visit but would not elaborate.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...,4203633.story

[PeterSmith]

Originally Posted by Itus

This probably related to post #2
Transportation: BWI awards $32 million pact
April 26, 2008

The upgrade is expected to take two years and could enable AirTran Airways, the airport's second-leading carrier, to double its daily departures at BWI.

This is great news. It is probably in BWI's best interest to grow with airlines like Airtran and Southwest as they grow. The more investment in BWI these carriers make, the more likley they will be to stick with BWI when they boom, both domestically and internationally. The number of travelers coming to the DC region is only going to increase. BWI should be in a good position if they keep a few steps ahead of Dulles and National when it comes to these growing low-cost carriers.

[Itus]

BWI's strength is definitely in its low fare carriers. There's probably going to be added value in this if United somehow merges with US Airways. In a situation like that, either Philadelphia or Dulles are gonna go, and I guess it would be Philadelphia, which would probably make Dulles into some huge fortress hub. After that of course, someone will probably build up operations in Philadelphia...and it could be Southwest or AirTran! Well, thankfully they're all hypotheticals at this point.

[Itus]

Checking out devices for BWI check-ins
By Laura McCandlish | Sun reporter
April 29, 2008

The homeland security secretary unveiled yesterday a new checkpoint screening system being tested at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and announced other measures to make providing identification at check-in less hectic for travelers.

The $2.1 million pilot program at BWI, called Checkpoint Evolution,travelers' includes new X-ray machines to better scan carry-ons and "whole body imaging" machines that show potentially hazardous objects that may be concealed under a passenger's clothing. Some groups such as the ACLU complain the system can violate passengers' privacy.

The checkpoint makeover also involves more than $300,000 in aesthetic improvements - soft lighting, calming music, better signs and an automatic bin-return system - to allow Transportation Security Administration officers to better detect jittery possible perpetrators.

"Everyone who's been through a checkpoint knows it's not a relaxing experience," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said, showing off the new system at a BWI briefing. "It's a dramatic improvement in the experience. It's a dramatic improvement for the screening officers."

To prepare for the pilot program, TSA officers have completed a 16-hour training course on explosives detection and how to calmly engage passengers. All 43,000 screeners across the country soon will take similar courses. Most travelers passing through Southwest Airlines' Terminal B checkpoint at BWI will experience the new system, which was set up Friday. They still must remove their shoes.

Using newly mastered behavior-detection techniques yesterday morning, an officer was able to flag an agitated traveler who was later arrested by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police on two outstanding warrants, TSA spokeswoman Lauren Brown said. The charges were unrelated to terrorism.

"By calming things down, we allow officers to interact with passengers in a way that lowers the general stress level," Chertoff said. "Then we train them to look for travelers who exhibit unusal signs of stress, fear or deception."

TSA officials heralded the new multiview X-ray luggage scanners as the first significant upgrade from 1970s-era checkpoint technology, though the machines don't have the ability to detect liquid explosives. By year's end, the TSA expects a nationwide roll-out of 600 of the scanners, which cost about $125,000 each.

An additional 30 full-body scan machines, which cost up to $250,000 apiece, will be purchased, TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe said. The black-and-white, three-dimensional images show weapons or explosives that might be concealed on the body. But the millimeter wave technology also picks up surgical scars, birthmarks and body parts, provoking privacy concerns when the machines were introduced recently in Phoenix, New York and Los Angeles.

"It really is a virtual strip search that reveals not just people's naked bodies," but also personal medical conditions, said Jay Stanley, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program. "We question whether the security value is really proportional to the cost of people's dignity and privacy."

Travelers who object can request a traditional pat-down, but TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said the Phoenix pilot revealed that 90 percent of passengers preferred the body scan. A person's face is obscured in the image, which is deleted upon TSA inspection.

These are just the latest security innovations being tested at BWI, where the TSA has spent millions on technology that it later decided not to widely adopt. Last fall, TSA said it would spend more than $13 million on Auto-EDS explosives detection scanners, but they proved too clunky for busy airports. Neither have "puffers," which use quick blasts of air to test for explosives, been widely embraced.

Chertoff also announced yesterday a new policy to limit the restrictions on innocent travelers whose names match those on the federal terrorist watch list. Each airline will be asked to voluntarily create a new system to verify and confidentially store a passenger's date of birth, clearing up any watch list misidentification, he said. Previously inconvenienced customers will then be able to check in online or at airline kiosks, something those with names similar to those on the watch list are now barred from doing.

"Thousands of people every day end up being inconvenienced by this thing," Howe said of the watch list. "It's a significant change if the airlines choose to participate."

One airline is already removing misidentified passengers from the watch list, though the TSA wouldn't disclose which one.

The airlines will individually have to determine whether they have the technology to comply with the policy, which could take some time to implement, said David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, the industry's main trade group.

"We're going to have to learn more about how this new process will work and about whether existing computer programs the carriers use will allow them to implement it," he said.

At BWI yesterday, fliers said the checkpoint redesign seemed more organized and efficient. Many didn't comment on the calmer aesthetics because the checkpoint's soothing spa music wasn't audible.

Phoenix resident Dan Hale said he didn't mind having a image of his unclothed body scanned by the new machines but that some passengers might consider the scan a violation of their privacy.

Returning home to Miami after a weekend with relatives, Diana Kahn and her son, Joel, had a smooth security experience, saying they could tell screening officers had been retrained.

Passenger Lenita Reeves of Baltimore said the checkpoint seemed to move more quickly than usual.

"As long as it's for my safety I don't have a problem with it," she said.

laura.mccandlish@baltsun.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business...,6976833.story

(related) http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...0,858047.story

[Itus]

AirTran Airways growth fuels another BWI passenger record
Baltimore Business Journal - by Scott Dance Staff
4/29/08

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport had its second straight record month in March, serving 1.84 million passengers.

Passenger totals grew 8 percent over March 2007 and were led by 25 percent growth from AirTran Airways (NYSE: AAI), the airport's No. 2 carrier. Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), which carries more than half of BWI passengers, had 12 percent more passengers than in March 2007.

The airport is in its busiest 12-month period, airport spokesman Jonathan Dean said, despite an expected dip in air travel because of the economic slowdown. The airport had two consecutive record years in 2006 and 2007, with 20.7 million and 21 million, respectively. During the past 12 months, the airport has flown 21.4 million passengers.

Airport officials said earlier this year that while passenger totals have steadily grown in recent years, growth is expected to be slim or flat in 2008.

AirTran has led growth in recent months, with 49 percent more passengers in January 2008 compared to January 2007 and 45 percent growth in February. Still, Southwest carries more than four times as many passengers, with 989,000 last month compared to AirTran's 229,000.

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore...l?surround=lfn

--------------
Total commercial passengers for the past few March months (from www.bwiairport.com):
March
2002 - 1657779
2003 - 1616551
2004 - 1802073
2005 - 1722465
2006 - 1765583
2007 - 1706951
2008 - 1844628

Not bad.

[Itus]

One take on a possible UA/US combination.

United's New Plan Could Cost D.C.
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 30, 2008; Page D01

The next potential act in Airline Merger Mania 2008: United Airlines and US Airways are negotiating a tie-up that could have profound implications for Washington-area air travelers, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Spurned by Continental Airlines over the weekend, Chicago-based United has focused its attention on smaller US Airways for the second time in the past eight years. In 2001, a similar proposed merger was dashed after regulators said it violated antitrust laws.

The United-US Airways discussions come two weeks after Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines announced a proposed merger that would create the world's biggest airline, putting pressure on United to find a merger partner.

While a combined United-US Airways would be slightly smaller than Delta-Northwest in terms of total traffic, such a deal would more directly affect air travelers in the Washington area. The combined airline and its regional affiliates would handle just over 50 percent of departures from the region's three major airports, according to an analysis of flight data.

The carrier would control about 75 percent of departures leaving Dulles International Airport, a United hub, and 55 percent of flights leaving Reagan National Airport, a major base of operations for US Airways and its regional carriers.

The two carriers have only about 40 total daily departures from Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, which is dominated by Southwest Airlines, the nation's low-cost behemoth.

The combined carrier's large share of the Washington market would make it easier for it to reduce costs by limiting flights and boosting fares because there would be less competition, according to analysts and academics.

"All things considered, fare prices will go up" in the area, said Dean E. Headley, a Wichita State University professor and co-author of the annual Airline Quality Rating. "The fact that they can dominate more of the market, that will give them more pricing power."

United was forced to turn its attention to US Airways after being spurned by Continental executives on Sunday. The two carriers had reached a deal, but Continental executives backed away because they worried about the increasing financial dangers of such a combination, according to a source familiar with those talks. United posted a $537 million first-quarter loss last week. In a letter to employees, Continental's two top executives said that "the risks of a merger at this time outweigh the potential rewards."

United's top chief executive, Glenn F. Tilton, has been a vocal proponent of consolidation, calling it a necessity if carriers are to achieve profitability. Despite massive cost-cutting in recent years, airlines' efforts to raise fares to keep pace with soaring fuel prices have been hindered, they said, by a fractured market in which no one carrier controls more than 15 percent of domestic flying and by competition from low-cost carriers. The major carriers, with the exception of Southwest, posted more than $1 billion in losses during the first three months of the year.

Sources close to United and US Airways cautioned that either carrier could -- like Continental -- walk away from the table. Both are evaluating other options, including the possibility of forming alliances and improving their stand-alone plans, the sources said.

If they do forge ahead, United and US Airways may face a tougher time selling their merger to regulators than Northwest and Delta will. Executives of those carriers have marketed their proposal as an "end-to-end" merger with little overlap. But analysts said United and US Airways have more overlapping routes and hubs, especially in the Washington area -- a situation that pleases investors eager for cost-cutting but may draw more regulatory scrutiny.

In threatening to sue to prevent a United-US Airways deal in 2001, then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft said the deal would have harmed consumers, who "would have little choice but to pay higher fares and accept lower quality."

Outside experts and industry executives said the airlines should be able to overcome those objections by arguing that the economic environment has deteriorated so much that airlines have no choice but to combine operations. In recent weeks, at least four airlines have sought bankruptcy protection.

"Times have changed. They are going in with one strike against them, not three," said C. Evan Stewart, an antitrust lawyer in New York.

As they proposed in 2001, United and US Airways would essentially have to give up a large chunk of flights at National, or even Dulles, if they seek a deal this year. Low-cost carriers would eagerly bid for slots and gates at National now held by the two airlines and would not raise objections on anticompetitive grounds, said Darryl Jenkins, a consultant who is working with Delta on its proposed deal.

The business case for a US Airways-United combination hasn't excited analysts as much as the erstwhile Continental-United combination, a carrier that would have leapfrogged Delta-Northwest in size. US Airways doesn't have the international route network of Continental, for example.

But US Airways and United will probably have an easier time reducing costs by eliminating hubs and cutting flights on overlapping routes, analysts said. Their fleets are also similar, and both carriers are members of the same international frequent-flier alliance, making it easier to integrate.

However, those cost savings may be short-lived, according to Kenneth Button, a professor of public policy at George Mason University. He said that labor problems -- both carriers have them -- and economic issues, ranging from low-cost competition to high oil prices, will probably gnaw away at any benefits.

"This is a short-term treatment of a problem without actually curing it," he said.

[Itus]

Dulles Rail Gets Federal Approval
Federal Transportation Department Makes Stark Reversal
By Amy Gardner and Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 30, 2008; 12:10 PM

Federal transportation officials today told Congress and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) that they have approved the proposed 23-mile extension of Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, reversing their announcement in January that the project was unfit for federal funding.

In a letter to Kaine and in a 10 a.m. conference call with the governor and Virginia congressional leaders, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said the $5 billion project had finally met the Federal Transit Administration's standards for cost efficiency, construction and expected ridership. The project will now move into the final design phase, a major step toward receiving $900 million in federal funding.

"As a result of the collaboration between federal and state officials, the project sponsor and other project stakeholders, the financial stability and oversight of the project has improved," Peters wrote to Kaine in a letter obtained by The Washington Post. "Cost reductions have been verified and mechanisms have been established to enhance inter-organizational cooperation, technical capacity and project management."

The news was met with widespread relief from Virginia politicians and business leaders, although there was also some upset from opponents of the aerial alignment of the rail line through busy Tysons Corner, where a debate over whether to dig a tunnel nearly derailed the entire project.

"Rail to Dulles is the single most important transportation investment that we can make in Northern Virginia," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. "It's going to transform the 23-mile corridor into a transit-oriented corridor that will help change commuting patterns, and that's a good thing. It links Fairfax and Loudoun integrally into the Metro system, which is also a good thing. People are going to appreciate the payoff."

Still, Peters went on, "much work remains" to make the project right. Today's approval comes with conditions that must be met if the project is to receive federal funding. Without that money, state and local officials have said that the project would die, ending the possibility of a long-sought rail connection between the nation's capital and its major international airport. Supporters say the line would ease congestion through Virginia's biggest jobs corridor and keep the economy humming with the transformation of suburban Tysons Corner into a thriving downtown.

Among the conditions, Peters said in her letter, is a sweeping demand that Virginia and the Metro system guarantee the capital investment necessary to maintain and operate Metro. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority recently identified $489 million in "urgent unfunded capital needs," Peters said.

The decision represents a sharp reversal by Peters and FTA chief James S. Simpson, who said in January that the project was unfit for federal funding. Their objections included the project's escalating cost, concerns about its management by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and reservations about the ability of the under-funded Metro system to operate the line.

That announcement stunned state and local officials, who had thought that the project, which had been in the planning stages for years, was on track for federal approval.

Angry exchanges among local and federal officials included an accusation from the FTA that Virginia and the airports authority had ignored signs that the project had been in trouble for months. Project boosters accused the FTA of seeking to kill the Dulles rail project because of the Bush administration's preference for private investment in public infrastructure. Rumors circulated that the FTA sought to force Virginia to sell the Dulles Toll Road to private entities to finance the rail line, and the FTA continued to say that the project's cost was unacceptably high and expected ridership too low.

Before that announcement, "all indications were pointing to a thumbs-up," Kaine said in January.

Simpson said at the time: "No one associated with the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project should be surprised."

Kaine, Peters, Simpson, Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) all participated in this morning's conference call, said sources who insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deliberations.

In March, Kaine and Peters issued a joint statement praising each other's efforts to reach an agreement. And congressional leaders, including Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and House Transportation Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), have offered support.

Officials with knowledge of the federal decision said Peters was behind the reversal despite objections from the FTA staff, which she oversees. Several sources said they might never know what caused federal regulators to ease up after coming down so hard on the project.

The rail line would go from Falls Church to the airport and into Loudoun County. The first phase, for which Virginia is seeking the federal money, would have four stations at Tysons Corner and end at Wiehle Avenue in Reston.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

[Itus]

courtesy of bwiairport.com
March 2008

Total Commercial Passengers: 1844628 +8.1% growth from 3/2007
Total International Passengers: 44918 -19% drop from 3/2007

The international drop definitely reflects the loss of a nearly daily Icelandair flight.

Total Cargo (Metric Tons): 8406 -16.0%
Domestic: 8143
International: 263

TOP TEN COMMERCIAL AIR CARRIERS BY GROUP- INCLUDING AFFILIATES
Airlines Enplaned* Deplaned* Total % Change/07
SOUTHWEST 490219 498714 988933 12.3%
AIR TRAN 113102 115982 229084 24.6%
DELTA GROUP 62748 63373 126121 9.7%
US AIRWAYS GROUP 58449 58384 116833 -0.3%
UNITED 52529 53916 106445 -6.7%
AMERICAN GROUP 46035 46386 92421 -17.3%
NORTHWEST GROUP 34649 34736 69385 -5.7%
CONTINENTAL GROUP 27419 30168 57587 14.9%
USA 3000 6771 6418 13189 22.0%
BRITISH AIRWAYS 4698 4994 9692 -4.4%

TOP TEN COMMERCIAL CARRIERS BY AIRLINE
Airlines Enplaned* Deplaned* Total % Change/07
SOUTHWEST 490219 498714 988933 12.3%
AIRTRAN 113102 115982 229084 24.6%
UNITED 52529 53916 106445 -6.7%
DELTA 48357 48937 97294 11.4%
US AIRWAYS 42068 42439 84507 55.4%
AMERICAN 38055 38378 76433 -18.1%
NORTHWEST 32290 32327 64617 -5.7%
CONTINENTAL 18383 19983 38366 7.6%
DELTA/COMAIR 11985 11591 23576 -0.7%
USA 3000 6771 6418 13189 22.0%
* Includes domestic and international passengers.

TOP FIVE CARGO AIRLINES

Airlines Enplaned* Deplaned* Total %Change/07
FEDEX 1946 2493 4439 -9.4%
UPS 781 890 1671 -38.6%
SOUTHWEST 342 377 719 -1.0%
DHL/ASTAR 160 206 366 -20.7%
BRITISH AIRWAYS 106 93 199 23.8%
(Metric Tons, one Metric Ton equals 2,205 lbs.)


Well, at least the BA flight has been picking up more cargo for the past couple months...if not the passengers. If the cargo numbers improve further it could warrant a change in aircraft! Based on my calculations, the BA flight has been on average 86% full during March 2008, with regard to passengers. Last year it was roughly 89% full.

[Itus]

State to cut airlines' debt
It will recoup only $25.04 million of uncollected rents, fees for BWI use
By Laura McCandlish | Sun reporter
May 14, 2008

The state has struck a deal with the airlines that use Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport not to collect $32.2 million of the $57.3 million in terminal rents and other fees it undercharged them over the past four years.

The Maryland Aviation Administration said it plans to recover only $25.04 million of those uncollected fees over the next five years. Southwest Airlines, BWI's dominant carrier, has agreed to pay $12.2 million of that sum - in exchange for reduced rents and landing fees in the future, company spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said.

Before reaching that agreement, Southwest had said last month that BWI could become too expensive an airport for the low-cost carrier.

"We negotiated a settlement, and we'll pay it out over five years, in exchange for significant cost reductions at the airport," Eichinger said.

One major reason for the shortfall is that BWI officials overstated the square footage of the terminal they built for Southwest, which meant it charged the airline less rent per square foot than it had intended after the terminal opened in May 2005.

The $12.2 million Southwest has agreed to now repay the airport is in addition to the $32 million in rent and fees it paid BWI for operations in fiscal year 2007, BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean said.

Under a five-year agreement BWI signed with the airlines in 2003, terminal rents and landing fees could be increased as airport operating and maintenance costs rose. But BWI officials miscalculated operating expenses, particularly security and utility costs, Dean said. Also, capital projects and related interest payments were overlooked in calculating the fees each airline owed, according to the MAA. The $57.3 million in undercharges covers fiscal years 2004 through 2008.

MAA officials refused yesterday to discuss how such errors were made, or how the state would make up for the money it won't collect. They are to appear before the Board of Public Works May 21 to discuss the revenue shortfall.

"The airport acknowledges the significance of these charges, which is why the MAA is working so hard to mitigate them," Dean said. "The MAA will also increase monitoring of these contracts to ensure appropriate collection of rates and charges."

State officials also have been probing the airport's oversight of its contract with BAA Maryland Inc., the management company hired in 2004 to overhaul retail and food concessions at BWI, particularly in its policies toward minority-owned businesses as the concessionaire moved to create a large shopping mall.

Dean said the aviation administration has recently hired new commercial management employees to promote better oversight of the airport's contracts.

"The MAA has new senior staff members with extensive knowledge and experience," Dean said.

BWI is currently working to reduce its operating expenses to lower future costs for the airlines, Dean said.

"The MAA has pledged to the airlines to reduce rate-based items to help moderate current and future charges," he said.

laura.mccandlish@baltsun.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business...,3187061.story

[Silver Springer]

Hey itus can you post Dulles figures as well?

[Itus]

As requested by Silver Springer...

Dulles Numbers for March 2008 can be found here: http://www.metwashairports.com/_/File/_/dmats308.pdf

Total Commercial Passengers:

March 2008 March 2007 % Change
Domestic 1,583,920 1,704,902 - 7.1
International 519,519 459,197 +13.1
Total Commercial 2,103,439 2,164,099 - 2.8

Total Cargo (tonnes):

30,012 (March 08)
30,856 (March 07)
- 2.7 (% Change)

Other Stats: http://www.metwashairports.com/dulle...fic_statistics

Reagan Stats:
http://www.metwashairports.com/reaga...c_statistics_2

[Itus]

USA 3000 stopping BWI flights to Florida
Baltimore Business Journal - by Ryan Sharrow Staff

Discount airline USA 3000 is halting four weekly flights from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Florida's east coast.

The Newtown Square, Pa.-based airline is planning to stop service from BWI to Melbourne, Fla., BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean confirmed Thursday.

Dean was uncertain when the flights to Melbourne would end. Flights from BWI to Melbourne are currently available until the end of July, according to USA 3000's Web site. The company does not show any flights departing from BWI to Melbourne in the month of August.

USA 3000 officials could not be reached for comment.

The airline is shutting down service to numerous Florida locations because of rising fuel costs, media reports said Thursday.

USA 3000 will continue service from BWI to Cancun, Mexico, and Punta Cana and La Romana in the Dominican Republic.

USA 3000 carried 120,171 passengers from BWI in 2006, or less than 1 percent of all BWI passengers, according to Baltimore Business Journal research.

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore...l?surround=lfn
-----------------
Also Bermuda service winding down in early September...not sure if it's a seasonal reduction though.

[30 Floors Up]

UAair has begun a new route from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall to Salisbury-Ocean City-Wicomico Regional.

A total of 13 round-trip flights will operate between the airports, arriving in Salisbury at 10:34pm every Friday, and departing Salisbury for BWI on Sundays at 10:45am.

Salisbury Manager Gary Sholes, told the Delaware paper, the News Journal, that with four planes arriving for work each week it made sense to add the routes.

"The plane needs to get into overnight maintenance, and we're making revenue to get it here," he explained.

Salisbury has become a popular destination for New Yorkers looking to holiday on the Eastern Shore, with the airport and its service under Piedmont Airlines - part of U.S. Airways Express system – helping transport hundreds of thousands of passengers each year.

The U.S. Airways Express system clocked up almost 210 million passenger miles domestically in 2007, up by 12 percent on the previous year.

[Itus]

Md. board assails deal with airlines
Officials angry BWI managers left $32 million uncollected

By Laura McCandlish | Sun reporter
May 22, 2008

The Board of Public Works berated airport management yesterday as the panel reluctantly approved a settlement reached with airlines that forgoes $32.2 million in undercharges for terminal rents, construction costs and fees at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The state board said the Maryland Aviation Administration's errors, representing five years of uncollected charges, raises larger questions about the airport's oversight of its multimillion-dollar contracts, such as the one with concessions manager BAA Maryland Inc. now also under scrutiny.

"How can we just leave $32 million on the table?" Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, leading the criticism, demanded of Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari. "Why weren't we more aggressive in making the whole payment stand? ... What fail-safes have you put in place so that this doesn't happen again?"

Franchot also told Porcari to report back on the aviation administration's contract with BAA, to determine if the terminal operator has made progress toward meeting its previously missed revenue and minority-business subcontractor targets. The previous Board of Public Works granted BAA a five-year contract extension, through 2022, at its final December 2006 meeting.

"Was that a bad deal for the state?" Franchot said. "I know the legislature had concerns that the state was not getting the proper return from them."

The deal that leaves out the $32 million comes as Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration is struggling to plug budget deficits by cutting spending, raising taxes and pushing for approval of slots gambling. In particular, the state's Transportation Trust Fund, which pays for airport construction projects, faces a $40 billion backlog in infrastructure improvements.

O'Malley, who sits on the Board of Public Works with Franchot and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, raised few questions, only noting that the errors in calculating charges were made under the previous administration, headed by Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

The additional costs also couldn't come at a worse time for airlines, which are being drained by record fuel prices.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement ratified by the board yesterday, the MAA will collect $25.04 million of the $57.3 million in airline undercharges over the next five years. Southwest Airlines, BWI's largest carrier, has agreed to pay $12.2 million of that sum in exchange for reduced rents and landing fees moving forward. No. 2 AirTran Airways will pay about $2 million.

The MAA agreed to not collect the $32 million to avoid litigation by the airlines because it represents charges for 2004 through 2006 that went undetected too long, Porcari said. The $25.04 million stems from undercharges in fiscal 2007 and 2008.

Collecting the full amount could also have induced carriers to reduce the number of flights and gates they operate at BWI, Porcari said. Remaining affordable for discount carrier Southwest is a priority, he said, as the airline expands into nearby airports in Philadelphia and Washington.

"We wanted to reach an agreement to recover it in a way that was not too burdensome to the airlines," said Timothy L. Campbell, the MAA's executive director.

A main cause for the undercharges was an overestimation of the square footage of the Southwest terminal that opened in May 2005.

Overall, the MAA overstated the amount of terminal space leased to airlines by 12 percent, according to an Attorney General's Office memo obtained by The Sun.

Demolished terminal space in Concourse B was not deleted from square footage estimates when the new Southwest Concourse A came online, Campbell said.

"The measurements were taken by our staff; the fact is, there were just mistakes made," Campbell said. "It's pretty embarrassing, and our commitment is that it won't happen again."

In addition, other capital projects funded by the Transportation Trust Fund were underestimated, including the planning and design costs of projects that were later scrapped, according to the memo prepared by Louisa H. Goldstein, the attorney general's counsel to the MAA.

The $57.3 million mistake was first discovered last October as Jacobs Consulting auditors reviewed BWI's contracts with its airlines. It took aviation officials and the airlines until April to reach an initial settlement agreement, Campbell said.

BWI will work to make up the lost shortfall by cutting its operating costs across the board in the coming years, Campbell said. Some 10 vacant MAA staff positions will go unfilled, and utility costs will be reduced through conservation measures, he said.

On the questions related to BWI's contract with its concessions manager, Campbell said BAA executives will give a briefing at the July 9 Maryland Aviation Commission meeting.

BAA does not meet all of its minority subcontracting goals. It falls short on goals for minority-owned retail stores but exceeds goals for food and beverage outlets, Campbell said.

BAA is facing lawsuits from two former tenants, a woman and a minority member who said they were unfairly forced out of business in favor of big national retailers.

One of the two is Melissa Fulton, the former owner of Celebrate Maryland, a locally owned group of souvenir shops that has gone out of business at BWI.

"It seems unfair and perhaps even discriminatory to be so generous with large, multibillion-dollar public corporations," Fulton testified before the board and Porcari yesterday. "The state's arrogance is quite evident when small, minority-owned business in the same circumstances are given no help, no concessions, no reduced rent or fees but are, in fact, forced out of the airport."

laura.mccandlish@baltsun.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business...,2584599.story

[yamota]

I used to fly out of BWI a lot before southwest opened a hub in Dulles. Thank god they did too, I was sick of leaving the house 4 hours before my flight just to accomodate the one hour drive to BWI

[DemolitionDave]

That sucks about USA3000. I have a beach house in Florida and Melbourne is only 25minutes away. Now we have to either fly into Orlando or West Palm both of which are 1 1/2 hours away. The price was right too. $72 one way from BWI to Melbourne

[Itus]

just got back from a trip so I haven't been up-to-date with anything that's been happening...but so far from what I've seen, American is going to end the daily BWI-San Juan route some time later this year (along with a bunch of other East Coast to San Juan pairings). I would hope at least AirTran picks the route up.