It could be expanded if demand from the business community and tourism industry is substantial enough to justify the cost to the airline, said Airport Manager Ron Maness.
Delta, which is operating under a bankruptcy reorganization plan, will provide once-daily, nonstop service to its largest hub in Atlanta from June 22 through Nov. 13 on its connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines, under agreements signed by Delta and the Moore County Airport Authority. The service will resume March 14, 2007, and continue through Nov. 12, 2007, Maness said.
The flights will be offered every day of the week except Tuesdays, using a 40-passenger Canadian Regional Jet, a CRJ 200. The airplane will arrive in Moore County at 10:45 a.m. and depart for Atlanta at 11:10 a.m. It will arrive in Atlanta about 12:28 p.m., according to a news release from Delta.
Maness said a county airport task force aggressively pursued all possibilities to restore air service.
“It’s been a long time coming, bringing airline service back,” Maness said during a news conference at the airport Thursday. “It’s a wonderful day for Moore County. The impact on our community will be significant. We are delighted to have the service back.”
The seasonal schedule is designed to serve the area during the heaviest period of the tourism season, which tends to get under way in March and slow down around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“Our market is new,” he said. “Hopefully, by that time (November 2007), with strong community support through regular business passengers and visitors, plus residents here using its passenger service for personal travel to visit out of state on personal trips, Delta will see that this is a profitable place,” Maness said. “We hope they’ll expand their passenger service.”
Customers can now purchase tickets for the Moore County service on Delta’s Web site, Delta.com.
To mark the start of the Moore County service, Delta is offering special introductory fares for travel via Atlanta to a number of destinations. These limited-time, one-way fares are subject to a number of conditions and restrictions. Among them, the airline requires a roundtrip purchase.
Some of the one-way fares include Chicago-O’Hare, $99; Detroit, $99; Tampa, $99; Atlanta, $119; and Los Angeles, $139.
The schedule for the flight has been carefully calculated to maximize convenient flight connections for the destinations that passengers in the Pinehurst area tend to choose, Maness said.
“The Pinehurst name means a lot,” he said. “Delta is the official airline for the PGA (Professional Golf Association).”
Maness said Delta wanted to start the service earlier this year, but couldn’t because customer service representatives that the Moore County Airport will hire must undergo a 10-week training period under Delta’s affiliate, Atlanta Southeast Airlines, he said.
‘Preferred Market’
“Our customers continue to request the convenience of nonstop access to regional airports such as Pinehurst/Southern Pines, and we are pleased to serve this preferred market nonstop from the world’s largest airline hub in Atlanta,” said Bob Cortelyou, Delta’s vice president of network planning.
“With our summer schedule, Delta customers from around the globe will find it easier to reach the 43 golf courses in a 15-mile radius of the Pinehurst/Southern Pines airport and will benefit from the incredible connectivity of our Atlanta hub to nearly 230 destinations around the globe, including extensive flight schedules to Europe, Latin America and all 50 states.”
Caleb Miles, president and CEO of the county’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, said, “The entire region realizes the tremendous economic opportunities that lie ahead with the launch of Delta commercial air service in Pinehurst/Southern Pines this summer. Visitors from around the world will appreciate the convenience and excellent service they will be afforded in their travels to and from ‘The Home of American Golf’ via Delta Air Lines.”
Incentives Offered
A contract for the trial service is to be signed by representatives of both bodies within the next week or so, Maness said. The two sides have already signed a memorandum of understanding following a meeting here last Thursday, he said.
The county airline task force is conservatively estimating that an average of 57 percent of the regional jet’s 40 seats will be filled with passengers throughout a flying season.
“Ideally, we’d like to have 100 percent of the seats filled, both ways, but that is unlikely,” Maness said.
Maness said he is optimistic that the number of passengers using the service will exceed the conservative estimate that just over half the seats will be filled on average.
The decision to try limited, seasonal service was partly based on data supplied by a consultant hired by the airline task force about six weeks ago, Maness said. Sabre Solutions of Atlanta buttressed the case to Delta that service to Moore County could be profitable.
The task force agreed to offer a number of incentives to attract the airline. The authority budgeted $50,000 to cover the startup costs.
The incentives are worth about $145,000 in out-of-pocket operating expenses of the airport authority. That includes salaries for five customer service representatives to be hired locally and paid by the county airport authority; labor services such as baggage loading and unloading; and equipment to be purchased for baggage handling and handicapped access for passengers with special needs.
The airport waived charging landing fees or other traditional fees. The airline will pay the airport for any jet fuel purchased.
“I’m going to ask Ron Maness to come to our first meeting in April to make a presentation to the board,” said Moore County Commission Chairman David Cummings during the press conference, pledging his financial support to the airport for the incentives. “I assure you I’ll make every effort to convince our board to help. This is a team effort of a lot of people, and we are part of them, not that I think it would take a lot of convincing.”
Building Support
The Moore County Airport has been without a commercial passenger airline since April 15, 2002, when CCAir, an affiliate of US Airways, stopped daily roundtrip service to Charlotte in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which worsened an already ailing national economy .
Moore County formed a task force to recruit another commercial carrier. It talked with US Airways. A deal with Tennessee-based Corporate Airlines to provide connecting flights with American Airlines at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport fell through.
The task force, with the help of The Pilot, mounted a community campaign last year to build support for Delta to provide service to Moore County. The task force collected more than 1,000 letters of support to encourage Atlanta-based Delta Airlines to start service to Moore County. The task force conducted a survey to gauge how much local businesses, resorts and residents would use air service if it was available.
Delta declared bankruptcy in the fall of 2005 and is operating under a reorganization plan. Representatives of the airline had planned to visit Moore County last fall, but canceled after it filed for bankruptcy.
A few Delta executives visited the area in June during the 2005 U.S. Open as guests of Pinehurst Resort and the airport.
As airline travel recovered to an extent from the terrorist attack, Maness continued to stay in contact with Delta.
Since the airport continued to have commercial service after 9/11, through April 2002, it is already set up to resume extensive security screening that can be reactivated easily by the federal Transportation Security Agency at federal expense.
Passengers will be able to fit golf bags and other carry-on or cargo baggage easily into this plane. It is the same model that is manufactured to hold 50 passengers but is modified with 40 seats, allowing more space for baggage.
Sara Lindau can be reached at 693-2473 or by e-mail at slindau@thepilot.com.
