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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Airport Board - 02/07/2007 - Special y SPECIAL-CALLED MEETING MINUTES CORPUS CHRISTI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BOARD n 1,916 7 � 1000 INTERNATIONAL DRIVE AVIATION ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE ROO 2007 INTERNATIONAL ' CORPUS CHRISTI t z INTERNATIONAL CORPUS CHRISTI,TEXAS R+•_ , AIRPORT FEBRUARY 7TH,20079 3:30 P.M. `a ClT1' . p, BOARD MEMBERS Jerry Kane, Chairman _Don Feferman,Member Frank"Rocco"Montesano, Vice-Chair William Dodge,Member J.C. Ayala,Member Jesse Olivares,Member Glenn E. Lyons,Member Jay Wise,Member Sylvia Whitmore,Member _Sam Susser,Member Ed Hicks, Sr.,Advisory Member AIRPORT STAFF Dave Hamrick,Director of Aviation Debra Keller,Asst. Director of Aviation Adelle Ives,Management Assistant I. Call to Order In Chair Kane's absence, Vice-chair Montesano called the meeting to order at 3:34 p.m. A quorum was present. II. Approval of the minutes for the December 13'"meeting of the Airport Board. Vice-chair Montesano called for approval of the December 13a', 2005 Airport Board meeting minutes. Board member Wise moved to approve the minutes as read. Board member Lyons seconded and the motion carried. III. Director's Report a. Director Hamrick reported on a change in the Coast Guard facility. Originally,it was to be 110,000 sq. ft. forthe entire facility. The hangar will now be over 100,000 sq. ft. and the office building will be an additional 40,000 to 50,000 sq. ft. larger. Discussion was heard by the Board on this topic. b. Director Hamrick reported that Mercury has approached staff to renegotiate and extend their lease. They will be sending staff a proposal that will include a new 10,000 sq. ft. hangar at a cost of$1.2 million along with$750,000 of improvements N Corpus Christi International Airport Board Agenda February 7,2000' Page 2 of S that would upgrade their facility to "world-class" status. He also stated that staff requested an additional 12,000 gallon JetA fuel tank to meet the demand when there are several diversions. Mercury was agreeable to this request. Director Hamrick stated that Mercury would be at the next Board meeting to make a presentation to the Board regarding their proposal. Board member Feferrnan questioned whether this new facility would replace their current. Director Hamrick responded that Mercury intends to add an additional 10,000 sq. ft. hangar to their existing facility. Board member Feferman questioned whether other comparable proposals would be considered. Director Hamrick stated that another individual, Judge Pate, has expressed interest in bidding on the lease when it comes up for renewal. With this in mind,Director Hamrick felt that this lease should go out forbid. c. Director Hamrick reported that the bids were rcceived on the signage for the new entrance sign and business center. A local company, D&D Construction, was the lowest bidder at $183,872. The second Iowest bid was at $223,102. The engineer's estimate was at$165,500. He added that it could be brought to the Board for a vote, but to expedite this item,he would like to proceed with construction by submitting it to City Council on February 20"'. Vice-chair Montesano called for a consensus of the Board on whether this item needed to come before the Board for approval again. The consensus of the Board was to have this item proceed on to City Council for approval in order to expedite the start of construction for this project. d. Director Hamrick introduced two representatives from ExpressJet Airlines, Mr. Kenneth Evans, Finance Director, Airport Services, and Mr. Lavoice Thomas, Sr. Director of Customer Service,who held the initial press conference regarding the new air service their airline will be introducing in Corpus Christi on April 1st. ExpressJet representatives gave a presentation to the Board. Discussion was heard by the Board on this topic. Board member Wise asked what the response was from Austin. Mr. Evans reported that Austin has sold more tickets than Corpus Christi, but he added that was due to the fact that Austin has 8 destinations. In wanting to provide point-to-point service,Expresslet will be adding destinations to ten major cities. This networking of cities will allow service to grow. Mr. Thomas stated that at present,Corpus Christi does not have this direct service. ExpressJet will be introducing new direct service to 57 city-pairs. He is confident to compete with this product and service. Mr. Evans added that the same aircraft flying direct from Corpus Christi to Austin will continue on to Ontario/Las Angeles. With this in mind, passengers that Ieft Corpus Christi at 6:30 a.m. could be in Los Angeles by 9:30 am. and could feasibly return back to Corpus Christi by 11 p.m.the same day. 1 1 Corpus Christi IntermationalAirport Board Agenda February 7,2001 Page 3 of 5 Mr. Evans stated that the first flight leaving Corpus Christi direct to Austin will be on April 30". He invited the Board to be a part of the inaugural flight. He will be getting more information to Director Hamrick regarding this event. Mr. Thomas interjected that every avenue available will be utilized to book and sell tickets. Board member Wise questioned whether Continental personnel would be utilized by ExpressJet or if they had their own personnel. Mr. Evans stated that personnel at the Continental ticket counter are employees of ExpressJet Airlines and have been for some time. Additional personnel will also be hired. Board member Feferman questioned if ExpressJet would consider additional cities. Mr. Evans reported that ExpressJet has maximized the capacity and the usage of 44 aircraft in this network which fly 11 to 12 hours daily. This requires crews and mechanics in place. Once they are successful with this service, then other cities will be considered along with the purchase of additional aircraft. Board member Ayala requested contact information regarding charter flights. Mr. Evans referred the Board to the information packet which has the charter, corporate and sales information. He also referred the Board to the company's website, www.xjet.co m. for additional information. Board member Lyson questioned if the packet contained information on the rates and schedules. Mr. Thomas responded that rates and schedules were not included in the packet, but he added that there is a price range in place. He reported that flights from Corpus Christi to Austin will range from$59 to $117, depending on when the ticket is purchased. The price of tickets from Corpus Christi to Ontario/Los Angeles will range from $170 to $320. Asst. Director Keller interjected that she had gone online to research fares and found that flights from Corpus Christi to Austin were $118 round trip. Mr. Evans added that ExpressJet has a frequent flyer program, the Jet Set Program, which offers passengers a free round trip flight after four round trip flights. Board member Wise questioned whether Continental had an option to buy out ExpressJet. Mr. Evans felt that the option for Continental or any other major airline is always available. He felt that Continental and ExpressJet could work well together in a co-share relationship. Mr. Thomas elaborated on the relationship between Continental and ExpressJet. He reported that ExpressJet currently flies 1,300 departures daily for Continental and is seeking to add new business with a new service and not attempting to take business away from other airlines including Continental and Continental Express. Board member Lyons asked if Senior Fares would be offered. Mr. Evans stated that ExpressJet has a very simple fare structure. He added that the sales team would have Corpus Christi International Airport Board Agenda February 7, 20017 Page 4 of 5 more of the fare structure information but added that adjustments would be considered based upon demand. Board member Lyons questioned whether forecasts of passenger loads had been obtained. Mr. Thomas stated that projected load factors are at 65%. Board member Lyons questioned whether the frequency of the flights would be increased. Mr. Thomas reported that the initial schedule would be increased based upon demand. He was very confident that this service would be successful. Board member Lyons questioned what the trip time would be to Austin. Mr. Evans felt that the trip would be under one hour. Mr. Thomas concluded by letting the Board know of his appreciation for all that Director Hamrick has done to assist them in every aspect of this new service launch. Discussion was heard regarding the specifications of the aircraft to be used. Board member Whitmore questioned who ExpressJet had met with regarding this new service. Director Hamrick informed the Board that they had met with the Port of Corpus Christi, University of Texas, CVB and all the Chambers in Corpus Christi. He added that ExpressJet was very well received. Vice-chair Montesano opened the floor for further discussion. Board member Dodge stated that since it appeared that efforts were made by staff to protect this information in advance of Monday's press conference, he questioned Director Hamrick on how the Caller ran a story regarding this new service before the February 5'h scheduled press conference. Director Hamrick responded that be was required by ExpressJet to keep the information confidential. He continued by stating that the information regarding the new service was picked up by the Caller from a Wall Street Journal article printed on January 30''. The Wall Street Journal article was an interview with the President of ExpressJet who stated the cities that would be getting new.service. Staff emailed the Board regarding this event without specific information unbeknownst that the article would be coming out in the next edition of the Caller. Board member Dodge also questioned why CCIA had become a target for Channel 10 news. Director Hamrick stated that in October 2006,Channel 10 hired News Director, Hollis Grizzard. He continued by stating that a news segment ran on Channel 10 regarding the rise in foot infections which podiatrists have attributed to people having to remove their shoes at airport checkpoints. This was a national story with which Channel 10 used video showing CCIA. Since he had not seen the entire new segment, Amy Gazin,Public Relations/Marketing Coordinator, call Mr. Grizzard regarding the segment. From that point on, there have been several public information requests regarding cell phone bills, salaries, credit card purchases and e-mails. After these requests were met, Mr. Grizzard requested an interview with Director Hamrick and since he had mentioned that it was regarding the budget, Director Hamrick requested _ p r Corpus Christi International Airport Board Agenda February 7, 2001V Page 5 of 5 Asst. Director Keller sit in on the interview. Director Hamrick stated that no matter what was discussed, Mr. Grizzard was very negative throughout the interview, which carried over into what was broadcast on the news. Board member Dodge questioned Ms. Gazin on the conversation she had with Mr. Grizzard. Ms. Gazin stated that she had advised Mr. Grizzard that the Airport has an open door policy with the media and she would have preferred that he had contacted her before the foot infection news segment ran. She added that she had informed Mr. Grizzard that she would have been happy to provide him with a maintenance schedule for the checkpoint area as well as what measures are in place to ensure that fungus does not grow in that area. She also mentioned to him that she could still provide this information to him. Mrs. Gazin added that she sensed Mr. Grizzard was not pleased with the direction the conversation was taking. IV. Board Business a. Board absences Vice-chair Montesano called for a motion to excuse Board member Susser and Chair Kane. Board member Lyons moved to excuse Board member Susser and Chair Kane. Board member Ayala seconded and the motion passed. V. Adjournment As there was no further business, Vice-chair Montesano called for adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 4:23 p.m.