Savannah Airport Commission Executive Director Patrick Graham said he was confident Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport would get JetBlue earlier this year.
Yet as the pace of the economy’s recovery slowed, this didn’t happen. JetBlue instead began focusing on its international service, he said.
Graham said Thursday he doesn’t see the airline coming to Savannah/Hilton Head this year. But he likes the airport’s chances as it continues to woo JetBlue in its search for a fifth airline, preferably a low-cost carrier.
“We continue to push and continue to keep JetBlue well versed in everything that is happening here,” Graham said. “Now, we have to look to 2013.”
On Thursday, an outside consultant for the airport spoke to a crowd of 30 people at the International Trade and Convention Center.
Stephen Van Beek of Leigh Fisher Consultants in Washington outlined the impact of airline industry trends on smaller airports like Savannah/Hilton Head.
The aviation industry at large, he said, is focusing on large airport hubs like Atlanta, Washington and New York.
And this trend, Van Beek said, is bad news for smaller hub airports like Savannah/Hilton Head.
He also addressed the airport’s search for a low-cost carrier like JetBlue or Southwest Airlines.
Over the past decade, Charleston International has taken a greater share of the regional market because of Southwest and its lower fares.
According to Van Beek, the presence of Southwest in Charleston and Jacksonville means attracting JetBlue should be the top priority for Savannah/Hilton Head.
But he stressed the need to balance low-cost providers who offer direct flights to smaller hubs with more expensive ones that may connect through large hubs like Atlanta.
“You got to find that equilibrium because if you have too much of one you chase off the other.”
Attracting both Southwest and JetBlue could potentially drive away service to larger connecting hubs, Van Beek said. For an airport like Savannah, it’s “a difficult balance to strike,” he said.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”
However, Van Beek said Savannah benefits from a well-managed airport, a strong business climate with the port and plenty of leisure flyers.
Along with Savannah’s tourist industry, these are the “principal attributes which the airport and the community can sell.”
Savannah/Hilton Head currently has four airlines — Delta, United, US Airways and American. But the airport continues to pitch JetBlue, Graham said.
It has offered JetBlue a deal between $3 million and $4 million — covering two years of rent, landing fees, marketing costs and crew rooms.
“We have to keep after them,” Graham said.
“It’s imperative and almost critical that we get someone like JetBlue. It will get to a critical stage that we need somebody like them.”