KNOW YOUR AIRPORT
Delta’s cuts put officials on spot
Officials give business and community leaders a tour in an effort to counter online grievances about Delta’s downsizing and the facility’s management.
Behind a door marked “Basic Indoctrination,” in a FedEx Express training room, Memphis International Airport officials took a shot Thursday at mending a public relations debacle set off by downsizing of Delta Air Lines’ Memphis hub.
They bombarded community and business leaders with facts and figures and led them on a windshield tour of the airport, FedEx’s world hub and the Tennessee Air National Guard base.
It was the second in a monthly series of “Airport World Class Tours,” designed to counter an Internet-fueled airing of grievances against Delta and airport management, which some critics believe moved too slowly to bring competition to the market.
The first tour, held in January, was for Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell Jr., and their counterparts from towns around the region.
Since last spring the airport’s governing board, the MemphisShelby County Airport Author- ity, has taken a beating for reductions in Delta’s flight schedule and the slow progress of attracting low- cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines.
The airport board directed staff last fall to do a better job of telling the airport’s story: a $28.6 billion annual economic impact, primarily linked to FedEx and its
cargo hub, and passenger service that, while greatly curtailed, still offers nonstop connections to 46 cities
xecutive vice president Scott Brockman said the airport dusted off and updated a familiarization tour that had been held in the 1990s but was discontinued after Sept. 11, 2001.
Since anti-airport sentiment peaked last summer, the board’s long-serving chairman, Arnold Perl, has resigned and former City Council member Jack Sammons has taken his place. Southwest’s AirTran subsidiary has announced plans to start adding service in August, and Southwest is expected to substitute its brand for AirTran by late in the year.
“It’s not a presentation to tell you everything is wonderful. Everything is not wonderful in the world of aviation,” Sammons told an audience that included Tom Jones, a founder of the critical Delta Does Memphis Facebook page, City Councilman Lee Harris and Billy Orgel, chair- man of the Shelby County unified school board.
Sammons said he’s urging Memphians to sign up for Southwest Rapid Rewards VISA cards and to embrace the airline when it arrives. “They’re excited about coming to Memphis, but our people in the community have got to get on those planes.”
Jones asked no questions and made no comments in the open forum, but said later, “The airport is a massive economic engine owned by the public, and it was concern about its future and a call for more transparency and openness that led to Delta Does Memphis.
“Any day a public board reaches out to the community, it is a good day, and that goes double for the airport authority. The big take-away from the tour: More than anything, it reminded me that we should all thank God every day for FedEx.”
Jim Gorman, vice president of flight standards and training at FedEx Express, said the company hosted the tour because better passenger service is important to the company. FedEx relies on commercial airlines to move flight crews and other personnel.
Bill Strong, a director of Tencarva Machinery, said airport service cuts have affected his ability to travel to the company’s home office in Greensboro, N.C. Delta went from three nonstops daily to none, he said.
“I’ve just been fascinated with airport operations, and use it, although not nearly as much as many people,” Strong said.
Ruth Ann Hale, a Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare spokeswoman, said president and CEO Gary Shorb couldn’t attend, so she came in his place.
“I think this is smart. I’m impressed with the fact that the tours are offered,” she said. “I think it was very eye-opening, as a member of the business community, to see the breadth and depth of the airport operation, and it will encourage me to be an ambassador for the airport.”
Airport authority board member Jon Thompson summed up the tour. “People need to know we’re not on our duffs doing nothing. Every day we’re trying to solve the challenges we told you about today.”