The Syracuse Regional Airport Authority has the first full year under its belt running the Hancock International Airport in Syracuse. Its annual report shows signs of success after the airport transitioned from being run by the city to being run by an independent authority.
The biggest accomplishment of the last year with the airport authority in control, does not involve flying.
"We finished redeveloping our entire concession program. We have nine new restaurants and retail shops. We’ve seen our revenues increase more than 25 percent as a result,” said airport executive director Christina Callahan.
She says on the air carrier side, bigger planes and some new destinations marked the year.
As for the future, authority officials are embarking on a strategic plan that would do a number of things, including trying to get more people to fly out of Hancock.
"We need to bring more people to the airport. We exist in this large catchment area that draws from a population of 3 million people,” said Callahan.
Approximately 1 million people fly out of Hancock every year now, continuing an upward trend after a dip in the number of travelers because of the recession. Callahan wants to tap into the populations who are perhaps driving to Florida, or traveling to other regional airports.
The more people who go through Hancock, the more attractive it becomes to airlines, which could then add routes and destinations.
Callahan says marketing is a big part of that, as is increasing customer satisfaction. Airport officials will begin conducting a series of focus groups to find out why travelers do or don’t fly out of Hancock.
And she says being a squeaky wheel with the airlines in another way to continue to try to get more carriers to offer flights out of Hancock Airport in the years to come.
“Establishing relationships with the airlines, and maintaining a line of communication is probably the most important thing. Having a regular dialogue with them and being a part of their plan. Not dropping off their radar is really important.”
Another big part of the strategic plan taps into the concept that the airport is really a small city, so it’s important to create a service-oriented culture that makes coming to the airport a positive experience.
"Whether you work for an airline or TSA or the authority, or one of the many employees here, you are an airport employee, and we want to instill a certain amount of pride that you work at an airport, and provide service to a million people each year.”
