Following a 44-year absence, commercial flights will soon take off from Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport. Contour Airlines announced in May that it would begin offering flights out of Bowling Green to Atlanta, Georgia and Destin, Florida. Airport Manager Rob Barnett discussed the service in this interview.
Autry: I know, for you, attracting commercial service has been a labor of love for the past eight years. What do you think this will mean for the region?
Barnett: Access to air transportation is critical for a community to sustain and grow its economy and allow those visitors and business people to come into the community seamlessly rather than driving up the interstate an hour and 15 minutes to Nashville and dealing with parking and rental cars. It's an incredible benefit to our community, not just Bowling Green and Warren County, but to our ten-county region, Barren River Area Development District. We see this an an opportunity for a business traveler, but also for that leisure traveler. We see this as a convenience and an economy boost for both types of travelers.Autry: Give us some background on Contour. What drew the airline to this region?
Barnett: Contour Airlines is owned by Corporate Flight Management. Corporate Flight Management is based in Smyrna, Tennessee. They're a very successful charter company and they own a couple of FBOs, fixed base operators, providing aircraft services from maintenance to fuel to charter, so they've been in the business for many years. Just recently, they started getting into the airline business and their first successful route was from Tupelo to Nashville. The reason they've been so successful is because of their reliability and their on-time accountability. That was imperative in solicitation of an airline for us, to marry the right company with our community so that we reduce the financial risk and get to a point of sustainability.
Autry: The flight schedule includes round-trip flights daily to Atlanta year-round and seasonal flights to Destin. Why were these two destinations chosen?
Barnett: When we were looking at the closest hub for people to connect, realistically, the two hubs that surfaced were Chicago O'Hare and Atlanta. The reason being is because those hubs allow people more connections than any other in the southeastern part of the United States. We decided on Atlanta for many reasons, but primarily because of the connections. From Bowling Green to Atlanta, once you land in Atlanta, you have thousands of connections to get you anywhere in the world and you reduce your risk of layovers associated with weather in Atlanta versus Chicago O'Hare.
Autry: A lot of work has occurred behind the scenes as far as hiring and construction. Talk about how the airport has prepared for the start of commercial service.
Barnett: Approximately 15 years ago, I asked the airport board to take into consideration through a master planning process what capital improvement projects would it take to accommodate an airline. Over the past 15 years, we've been planning with infrastructure improvement projects, airfield lighting improvements, a runway asphalt overlay project, a new radio control system, a pilot control lighting system. We've been making small steps headed in the right direction, and now we're here and we're putting the necessary buildings in place like the temporary terminal and the ground crew is being hired and trained. The Transportation Security Administration has invested over $650,000 into our facility on personnel, equipment, and training to make this happen. The reason that is such an integral piece is because we want our passengers screened and sterile when they get to Atlanta so they can have a seamless transition to their next connecting gate and travel throughout the world.
Autry: When travelers arrive at the airport, what can they expect? Walk us through that process.
Barnett: When travelers arrive at the airport, they're going to see a temporary terminal building which consists of six modular units that will be connected with a corridor, so you have three on the front side, a corridor, and three on the backside. The front side is the screening area. When you walk into the lobby, you'll be checked in by the airline. They'll check your driver's license, your airline ticket, and verify that you are present. Turn left and you walk into TSA. We anticipate the longest someone will wait is eight-and-a-half minutes. The TSA process will be very short and convenient. Once you clear TSA, you'll walk to a sterile holding area which will be a waiting area much like you see in the larger terminal buildings with TVs, seating, and the vending area. When you get ready to board the airplane, you will walk out of the facility about 50 feet and get on the airplane.
Autry: The last commercial air service in Bowling Green was in 1972. How has the airline industry changed since then, and are regional airports in a better position to support commercial carriers?
Barnett: The trends of the airline industry are astronomically declining. If you look back to the 1970s, you'd probably see 20 to 25 airlines that were operating in the United States. Now, you have five airlines controlling 85 percent of the traffic in America. That makes it very difficult for smaller airports to marry with a carrier, a subsidiary carrier, to get your passengers into a connector hub for the major carriers. We've been working on air service development for the past eight years. This region is an unproven market because we haven't had air service in 44 years. It's a huge risk for the larger carriers to try a market. If you look at Nashville being 70 miles down the road, those carriers with a presence there already, that are capturing 94% of our market, aren't necessarily interested in the convenience of the people of Bowling Green. We're interested in being local, selling convenience, and accommodating not only business travelers, but recreational travelers.
Autry: Do you anticipate adding more destinations if commercial service is successful in Bowling Green?
Barnett: Absolutely. We'd love to make this temporary terminal building a permanent terminal building in a year-and-a-half or so, but in order to do that, we have to make sure the market matures, that we are absolutely ready to come out of the gate and sell convenience to the consumer, and also follow up on the back end to see if their travel experience was exactly what they anticipated. It's going to be interesting to see how the region responds because it has been so long. If how many times the phone has rung in our office is any indication, it's going to be a good run. We'd love to look at Chicago, Orlando, and other destinations in the future. First and foremost, we have make sure we put the marketing pieces of the puzzle and make sure we follow through with their experience here in Bowling Green
