At the annual convention of the American Association of Airport Executives held this week in New Orleans, the prevailing message was of airline cutbacks and their subsequent impact on airports, particularly those in smaller communities. A top concern is that the U.S. Congress has yet to recognize the severity of the problem. To address the latter, AAAE on July 10 will host The Energy/Air Service Summit in Washington, D.C.
On Friday, AAAE senior executive vice president Spencer Dickerson spoke with AIRPORT BUSINESS on the goals of the Summit as well as the mood of his members. Here are edited excerpts....
AIRPORT BUSINESS: What is it you’d like to accomplish with your emergency summit?
Dickerson: We think it’s going to be a very important part of this whole initiative to shine the light on the problem, number one. And number two, try and discuss the issues relating to policies dealing with energy and potential national air service policies. We’re hopeful this is the first step for everyone to get their hands around this critically important issue.
AB: Will there be Congressional participation at the Summit?
Dickerson: We’re going to invite the Congressional folks, and this is now co-sponsored by ATA, IATA, RAA, and NBAA.
AB: What was the sense you got this week in terms of what airports are saying – what their mood was?
Dickerson: I think there is a great level of concern about what the future is going to hold. We’re in uncharted territory. If oil gets to $200, $300 a barrel, in many cases it’s catastrophic in terms of what it could mean. At $130 it doesn’t work very well. I think there’s a very high level of concern for airports of all sizes. This isn’t limited to just small airports.
AB: My sense was that people were fairly upbeat considering the news they were hearing from the airline and Wall Street reps. Or, maybe they’re just in a state of shock?
Dickerson: I’ll say this: This industry and airports are very resilient. Look at the history – deregulation; the PATCO strike; major accidents; 9/11; bankruptcies. Every time the industry has come back stronger. When you look at the history of this business, airlines and airports are extremely resilient, and optimistic. This industry is so critical to the economy of the country. It’s not like we’re making typewriters here. The economy goes as the aviation/airline industry goes. Somehow we – and it’s a collective ‘we’ – will figure out a way to come out of this stronger.
AB: Regarding the aviation reauthorization bill still pending in Congress, do we see any need to change what the industry is asking for?
Dickerson: I don’t know that. We hope this continues to keep pressure on Congress, particularly the Senate, to get reauthorization done. Whether this becomes part of that, who knows? You saw the Powerpoints that the airlines had at the show and they were outdated just a month ago.
AB: [AAAE president] Chip Barclay this week suggested that there may be a need for some type of federal agency or authority that can step in to offer relief, a la what happened with Bear Stearns and the financial markets. Has there been any more thinking on that?
Dickerson: No more thinking on it; everything is going to be on the table. How do you protect the fundamental structure of this industry? You saw Congress is already starting to look at the speculation side of [oil]. There are some that think a lot of the increase is due to pure speculators, like what happened last Friday when it went up $10 a barrel; there’s another side that says it’s not the speculators. At the Summit, we’re going to bring in some smart people to talk about that; it’s certainly where airlines are focused, on the speculator side of it.
Part of the challenge here is this is a new phenomenon.
