Airport in leisure market expects to bounce back faster than business destinations

Like many organizations facing the rollercoaster ride of the pandemic, Punta Gorda Airport in Charlotte County has shifted in several ways in recent months.

Early on, it made a 10% across-the-board cut in expenses, Punta Gorda Airport CEO James Parish says. The airport made cuts in a variety of areas, from office supplies to buying less fuel.

The airport furloughed one employee for a few months and has since brought him back. Another part-time employee was let go, and some operational staff was moved around to different positions. To keep up with increased cleaning demands, Punta Gorda Airport increased hours for janitorial employees. Parish says a big expense lately has been buying new equipment for janitors. 

The airport has delayed some capital projects during the pandemic while it sped up others. A long-term parking expansion project was delayed for six months and just started recently, for example. It then sped up some runway work, trying to take advantage of a slower time. The airport is also working on a new General Aviation Center, a project that will include an aircraft ramp, hangars, parking, a restaurant and other improvements.  

‘We’re going full-bore at all the other airlines telling them how much money they can save here versus our neighbors.’ — James Parish, Punta Gorda Airport

Pandemic or not, a key to Punta Gorda Airport’s success is the performance of Allegiant Air, the main airline operating there. Allegiant recently announced two new nonstop routes from the airport to Chicago and Houston. For Allegiant or other airlines, Parish says the airport isn’t offering new discounts or incentives. “Our model is very inexpensive for the airlines,” he says. “Our incentive is in our model.”

The airport also isn’t letting the pandemic stop its efforts to attract more airlines. “We’re going full bore at all the other airlines telling them how much money they can save here versus our neighbors,” Parish says. At a time when the airlines are in a crunch, he adds, Punta Gorda is hoping it will get some traction from airlines seeing the benefits of low costs.

Travel at the airport is down now around 20% to 25% compared to last year. Parish expects to see a boost from holiday travel — one of the reasons the airport continued its long-term parking expansion project.

Beyond this year, the airport is planning for 2021 and 2022 to be small growth years. Parish does think, though, that because the area is a leisure market, it will bounce back faster than markets more heavily weighted toward business travel. “The budget is fairly conservative for next year,” he says. “We put our terminal expansion planning on hold for a while. We just want to see how the industry shakes out.”

To help secure a steady future, one of the airport’s goals is to put as much money in the bank as possible. Parish says, “So we have a war chest to get through future 9/11s, pandemics, hurricanes — all these things that hit us.”