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Editorial: Credit Where It's Due
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Business New Haven
3/1/2004
By: BNH
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We're hardly the types to say, "We told you so."
Actually, though, we did.
More than a year and a half ago in this space we asserted that if a new air carrier were to be lured to Tweed-New Haven Airport, financial guarantees would be required.
In a September 16, 2002 editorial headlined "Put Up Or Shut Up," we cited the example of Wichita, Kan., where exasperated civic and business leaders approached low-cost carrier AirTran. AirTran offered Wichita air travelers a cheaper alternative - with strings attached to starting service: big financial commitments from local government and area businesses.
As a result some 400 Wichita area businesses agreed to shell out a total of $4.7 million for AirTran tickets to woo the Orlando, Fla.-based carrier. Wichita city government agreed to add up to $4.5 million in revenue guarantees over two years.
Now, some of New Haven's largest employers have similarly stepped up to the proverbial plate to make that happen.
On February 23, Delta Airlines officially announced that it would begin service to Tweed-New Haven Airport starting May 27 (see story, page 8).
Comair, a Delta carrier, will be providing three flights daily from Tweed to Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport on 40-seat Bombardier CRJ regional jets. From Cincinnati, passengers will have access to over 560 flights to more than 125 destinations.
Delta will add its Cincinnati flights to existing US Airways Express' turboprop service to Philadelphia. The City of Brotherly Love has been Tweed's only destination since US Airways discontinued service to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Although Delta signed a letter of intent to come to Tweed in December, an official agreement was not reached until city businesses provided a $1.9 million revenue guarantee for the airline. The guarantee would help offset potential revenue shortfalls in the event Delta incurred operating losses in its first year at Tweed.
While this publication has historically been skeptical of whether the area business community really "needs" Tweed, this proves that the area's largest companies at least want a local alternative to Bradley and the New York airports.
Credit for the effort is due Tweed Airport Authority Chairman Lawrence J. DeNardis, who articulated the vision and got the ball rolling. Where the rubber met the road were Yale Vice President for New Haven & State Affairs Bruce Alexander and Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce President Anthony Rescigno.
Credit, too, the organizations that actually committed to write the checks: the Community Foundation, Knights of Columbus, New Haven Savings Bank, Yale University, Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Fleet Bank, United Illuminating, SBC, WTNH-TV, Webster Bank and the New Haven Register.
Good job, all. But if Delta service to New Haven is to succeed in the long run, companies both large and small must adjust their mindsets to truly consider the Tweed option as part of every business travel equation.
The big companies got Tweed to the starting line. Now it will take the rest of us to make it stick.
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