JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 / V19 N232
RIGHT-SIZING
CONCESSIONS
A MOVING TARGET
ACDBE Program Challenges Persist ON-AIRPORT
COVID TESTING EXPANDS DRAMATICALLY
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16 Size Matters
With traffic low but hopes high, airport properties managers grapple with how to right-size concessions programs for maximium passenger satisfaction and revenue optimization.
20 Program Tweak?
Running an ACDBE-certified business been fraught with challenges for years. Those issues have been exacerbated in the current downturn, prompting new discussions on how to help ensure the small businesses involved will thrive.
24 Testing The Limits
Airports want travelers back in the terminal. Ensuring confidence in the safety of the space is key;, and providing virus testing services could be a major draw.
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4 Letter from the Editor-In-Chief 6 Data Check
28 Airline Fortunes
Ultra-low-cost carriers seize the spotlight as leisure travel ramps up and business flying stagnates.
The 2020 Airport Experience Fact Book reveals the top-performing concessions programs in North American airports in 2019.
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8 Latest Buzz
Undeterred by pandemic, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport pushes forward with a billion-dollar overhaul of its Terminal 5, which includes 10 new gates.
32 Advertising Index 33 Before You Take Off
LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal B welcomes a singular water feature celebrating the iconic landmarks of New York.
12 Director’s Chair
Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is managing through the pandemic slightly better than the national average; Director Greg Kelly attributes this – at least in part – to leisure travel.
A X N E W S J A N U A R Y/ F E BRU A R Y 2 0 2 1
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DIRECTOR’S CHAIR
POISED FOR REBOUND After Downturn, SAV’s Kelly Says Recovery Is Underway BY CAROL WARD
ditor’s Note: No commercial airport in North America has been immune to the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on passenger demand. Savannah/ Hilton Head International Airport (SAV), as the gateway to the city of Savannah, Georgia and to leisure destination Hilton Head Island, has fared better than most, tracking about 10 percent better than the U.S. average downturn for airports. Prior to the start of the pandemic, SAV was experiencing record growth, expansion plans were in the works and concessions were thriving. Gregory Kelly, executive director of the Savannah Airport Commission, is hoping to return the airport to its former vibrancy. He spoke with AXN’s Carol Ward about the outlook for 2021 and beyond.
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Above: Gregory Kelly, executive director, Savannah Airport Commission.
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A X N E W S J A N U A R Y/ F E BRU A R Y 2 0 2 1
WARD: You’ve been leading Savannah International Airport for several years, and the airport was doing extremely well up until March of 2020. Can you share the impact the pandemic has had, and how you’ve managed through the crisis? KELLY: January and February were great – they were our strongest January and February on record. We were getting ready for another record setting year, anticipating 1.6 million enplanements versus 1.5 in 2019. March started out very strong, but by mid-March the bottom started to falter, and by the end of March the bottom had fallen out. As an airport operator, you always have to plan, train and be ready for crises and significant incidents. Inherently, we are prepared for disruptions and are prepared to go into an emergency response mode. Communication is the most important factor in working through a situation. We started immediate activation of our [Emergency Operations Center] to communicate with all tenants and communicate effectively with our passengers and our employees. We were very aggressive with that, taking the lead in handling a situation that was evolving in front of our eyes as best we could. We
were like everybody else: we’re trying to assess the situation and then stabilize what we could. Once things were stable, we were in a situation where we had to start making business decisions based on projections that were shaky at best because it was an evolving situation. Like everybody else, I was talking to our peer groups and industry partners to try to formulate some kind of path forward, from a business standpoint and from an operational standpoint. We handled it like a crisis and we managed through it. Now, we’re still in a crisis but we think we have a clearer picture of where we’re going. WARD: In the midst of all this you attracted Southwest Airlines to SAV. How big a deal is that for your airport? KELLY: We expected to have success with Southwest one day. We certainly didn’t expect it to come during a pandemic. It seems counterintuitive that we would get more air service during the worst possible downturn. Because we’re a leisure market and that is a segment that seems to be traveling more than the other segments, we were the beneficiary in terms of Southwest accelerating its decision to start service here.
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