Airport board searches for new revenues

With Texarkana Regional Airport’s operational expenses expected to slightly exceed $1 million next year, airport board members looked at revenue streams Thursday to see if they could be widened.

Earlier this week, the board’s Finance Committee conducted a 2014 budget workshop to search for some cost savings. During the two-hour session, committee members combed through a total of $789,500 in major expenses within that projected $1 million price tag for next year’s operations and maintenance. However, they could not find much to cut.

With little cost savings in the brew, the full board considered a listing of revenue sources that could possibly be increased.

Of all the income sources, the larger ones include the percentage of money the airport receives from three onsite car rental services. This income amounts annually to about $235,000, while overnight passenger vehicle parking comes in at about $138,000, along with tenant hangar rental at roughly $104,000.

Other income sources include landing fees, which are about $55,000 annually, and the American Eagle office rental, which brings in about $35,000.

The airport is due to have a periodic increase in parking fees of $1—from $7 to $8— starting Tuesday. However, this fee increase is more of a periodic hike brought on by the airline industry’s normal inflationary patterns.

Two revenue enhancing considerations included slightly increasing the airport’s car rental percentage and possibly implementing a penalty on hangar tenants who house nonflyable aircraft in their rented aircraft hangars. Besides nonflyable planes, the penalty could be extended to include nonaviation- related storage in those same hangars, said Airport Director Stephen Luebbert.

Following the suggestions, the Finance Committee agreed to hold another budget workshop, tentatively set for Oct. 22.