Written by: Matt Bunk
Bismarck officials are trying to strike a deal with Frontier Airlines to offer low-fare flights to Denver five days per week in exchange for a package of incentives that includes $50,000 for marketing and a guarantee that the airline would not lose money during the first year of service.
The City Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow airport officials to offer a “loss backstop” of up to $200,000 that would cover any financial losses incurred by Frontier as a result of creating the new flight route. The money would come from the city’s existing sales tax base.
Mayor John Warford and the rest of the city commissioners said the incentive package was a small price to pay for bringing a new airline route to Bismarck. They said it would lower airfare by creating more competition and expand flight service as the city grows.
Bismarck Airport Manager Greg Haug said airfare rates at the Bismarck Airport are the ninth-highest in the nation. He said Bismarck is “out at the end of the spoke” with regard to flight routes and lacks the kind of competition among airlines that leads to lower rates in hub cities.
Commissioner Parrell Grossman put it more bluntly: “Frankly, our airfare rates are too high.”
Frontier has 60 days to approve the deal. During that time, any other airline may introduce a counter-proposal to offer similar service and take advantage of the city’s incentive package, according to Federal Aviation Administration rules.
A group of business leaders raised $300,000 during the past two weeks to entice Frontier to begin offering the new route to Denver. The money will be held in a “travel bank” that the business leaders will draw upon when they use the new airline service.
Bismarck-Mandan Chamber of Commerce President Kelvin Hullet said the high cost of airline service prompted the business community to action. He said the money, combined with the city’s loss-protection guarantee, will help convince Frontier to enter the Bismarck market.
“We’re on the football field, and you’re on the bench,” he told city commissioners. “And if we break our leg while we’re playing, we’re asking you to come into the game for us.”
Warford said he was convinced that the city needed to make a financial commitment to lure a new airline after he compared airfare rates between Bismarck to Denver and Minneapolis to Denver. The round-trip service originating in Bismarck cost several hundred dollars more, even though it was a shorter distance, he said.
“That’s what pushed me over the line,” he said.
Right now, three airlines provide flights to and from the Bismarck Airport. Delta Airlines has connecting flights to Minneapolis; United offers connecting flights to Denver and Chicago; and Allegiant offers flights to Phoenix and Las Vegas.
Cheryl Fenster, a travel agent who has led the business community’s efforts to bring a new airline to Bismarck, told commissioners that in some cases a ticket from Bismarck to Minneapolis costs $730, while a flight from Minneapolis to Chicago costs $138.
“It was apparent that we’re being used to subsidize flights in other cities,” she said.
In other city business Tuesday night:
-The City Commission approved an application from a Bismarck couple to take over the concession kiosk at the airport.
-Grossman asked commissioners to consider whether installing storage lockers at the airport so that passengers would have a place to store clothing and other material as they travel to cities with warmer climates. Some security issues would have to be resolved.
-Matt Bunk is publisher of the Great Plains Examiner.
This entry was posted in Bismarck News, Business, NEWS CATEGORIES, Slideshow and tagged Bismarck Airport, Chamber of Commerce, City Commission, Frontier Airlines, incentive, John Warford, Kelvin Hullet, Parrell Grossman. Bookmark the permalink.
Frontier used to serve Bismarck when I was in the Navy, and I used to get home on the plane from Denver when I was on leave. The flight took off in Denver, stopped in Scottsbluff, Alliance, and Chadron Nebraska, then
Rapid City, South Dakota and Bismarck. Those were the days when you could still smoke on airplanes, and I was a smoker. We’d get in the air, the pilot would come on and say it is okay to smoke now, we’d light up, and before we could finish the cigarette, the pilot would come on and tell us to extinguish our cigarettes. Only on the last leg, from Rapid City to Bismarck, could you finish an entire cigarette. The trip took something like four hours. I hope the service is better now.