Air Service Development & Retention

Overview

Western Peak provides expert air service development and retention-enhancement programming. We understand that annual passenger requirements must be achieved to satisfy airline profit margins. Maximizing passenger counts and cargo revenues to exceed bottom line profit goals is the best approach for growing air service. When air service underperforms, the carriers will move their equipment and crews to the most lucrative and strategic locations.

At Western Peak, we have hands-on experience effectively developing air service from multiple perspectives. Our team consists of former airport executives, elected officials, and air service analysts. We empower communities with key data to support airline business plans that are backed with a level of surety to maximize success and minimize new service risk.

The Western Peak team has experience developing community partnerships and aligning stakeholders with regional economic development objectives. Airports, chambers, DMOs, EDCs, municipal governments, and local business interests must all be rowing in the same direction. Western Peak’s legal expertise will help airports and communities to negotiate the key business terms of their airline agreements. We can also develop economic incentive packages, as allowed by the FAA, for new service.

Western Peak Expertise
Economic Development and Air Service Nexus

Air service is a very important decision factor influencing major employers to become partners in your community. Western Peak’s principals, David Fiore and Dan Poremba — together with the company’s Sr. Economist Jeff Moffett — have a proven hands-on track record to execute plans that have optimized air service for smaller airports and capitalized on existing air service at larger airports to successfully compete to recruit and retain major employers to the communities they served.

While managing the commercial development program at Denver International Airport (DEN) — the largest airport commercial program in the U.S. — Western Peak Principle Dan Poremba led a wide variety of airport-related economic development initiatives. This included his direction of hotly-contested airport-related economic development wins involving United Airlines and Panasonic.

In the Chicago area, Western Peak’s principal, David Fiore, actively worked on the City of Naperville’s economic development team using creative financing tools to recruit and retain such businesses as Office Max North American Headquarters, Tellabs, Nicor Gas, BP, ConAgra Foods and others. David Fiore’s understanding of the complex nature of transportation, airports, property and local government was unmatched in Chicagoland. In fact, Naperville’s Mayor designated David as the City’s appointee to the Chicago Metropolitan Airport Capacity Committee and other regional transportation planning committees. David’s past participation in U.S. Department of Commerce trade missions aboard uniquely qualifies Western peak to evaluate open sky agreement opportunities and facilitate discussions on international codeshare opportunities.

Jeff Moffett, Western Peak’s senior economist managed the air service development for one of Colorado’s major resorts, Crested Butte Mountain Resort, positioning the airport to have 20% plus gains in the available airline seat miles compared to competitive mountain resort airports including Aspen (+9% for the same period), Steamboat Springs (+7% for the same period) and Eagle County – Vail (-0.5% for the same period). The retention component is the low-hanging fruit to develop community partnerships that are important to the airlines and giving the greatest chance to align corporate travel plans and logistics of shipping to help increase airline yields through the development of routine evaluation of Passenger Load Factors (PLF), RPM and RTM data.

Air service growth requires more than equipment and passenger demand. The local transportation system, demand drivers, lodging base in smaller and resort communities, and land uses in the region must all develop in concert with air service. The Western Peak team is prepared to support non-hub to large-hub airports and the communities they serve by developing strategic plans that align air service and the economic development objectives set by the communities they serve.

Airport Commercial Real Estate Commercial Development & Real Estate Services Airport-Centric Economic Development Airport City | Aerotropolis Airport & Real Estate Marketing   Special Services