Jul. 26—Marketing efforts are seen as key to the successful launch of Spirit Airlines, the first new carrier at Manchester-Boston Regional in 17 years, and the airport will be getting a boost from the federal government to get the word out.
The airport received $450,000 through the Department of Transportation's Small Community Air Service Development Program to support marketing for new routes available through Spirit, an ultra low-cost carrier which will start offering service from Manchester to Florida in October.
The grant program is designed to help small communities address air service and airfare issues, according to its website.
This is the first time the airport has applied for the grant, according to Ted Kitchens, airport director. The airport has been eligible for about the past 10 years. The airport was one of 22 airports out of 77 applicants to receive the grant.
"We knew this year was going to be very competitive because a lot of airports have obviously lost air service because of the pandemic," he said Sunday afternoon.
The pandemic has accelerated the drop in passengers in Manchester since 2005, in part due to growing low-cost options in Boston.
Kitchens said New Hampshire, being so close to Boston, is an expensive area of the country for marketing.
"You are competing with a lot of different folks who want to market in that area," he said.
U.S. Reps. Chris Pappas and Annie Kuster and U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen touted the grant last week as a way to boost the state's economy.
Mayor Joyce Craig said Spirit's service is expected to have an economic impact of more than $25 million in the city and $30 million across the region.
"As people come into the state and rent rental cars or the outbound passengers park on the parking deck and buy concessions, all of that comes back to the airport," Kitchens said. The state loses $91.4 million to passengers flying out of Boston and other airports.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, passenger traffic had declined for 14 straight years, from a high of 4.3 million in 2005 to 1.7 million in 2019. Higher-than-average fares, lack of nonstop flights and fewer carriers and destinations are seen as some of the reasons. The launch of Spirit is being seen as one remedy.
A marketing firm hired by the airport estimates it will cost approximately $1.4 million in the first year to launch a successful marketing campaign to drive "behavioral changes" for Spirit, according to the grant application.
"We are going to have to do continual marketing up to and through the launch to make sure this is successful," Kitchens said.
Some of the effort will include billboards, community events, digital, direct mail, social media and TV. The airport has also constantly been posting about the new routes on social media.
Spirit will begin offering daily flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando beginning Oct. 7. Weekly flights to Fort Myers and Tampa will begin a month later, the airline announced last month.
Spirit submitted a letter in support of the grant application.
Matt Klein, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Spirit, said in an interview in June that grants are "frequently" available when new services are launched.
"It is designed by the government to make sure any new entrant has the best shot possible to do well so that more growth comes after it," he said.
As part of an effort to lure Spirit, the airport waived 100% of landing fees and terminal rents for the first year and will waive 50% of these fees for the second year of service for a total of about $1.2 million, according to the application. The air service incentive plan guarantees $595,000 in marketing support.
The airport's marketing firm estimates it will take 93 million impressions to drive change and will cost $1.4 million, according to the grant application.
About $350,000 is expected to come in from other sources.
Kitchens said he's seen a positive response to Spirit coming to the airport, and hopes the bookings will follow.
"Their prime booking window is anywhere between two weeks before the booking to about eight weeks before the flight," he said.
"We are about to hit that prime window and that is when we need to see those seats to start to fill up."
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