Following the Atlanta airport’s loss of flights to China just a little more than a year after they began, general manager Ben DeCosta says business leaders and the government should consider whether to offer incentives for key international flights.
He said Hartsfield-Jackson International has not considered offering its own incentives, but added in an interview that they are “something that I think in the next year the business community and the government ought to consider.”
A number of airports around the country offer incentives for international flights, and some have recently launched new ones as airlines struggle amid global recession. Incentives range from a period of free rent or waived fees offered by an airport, to revenue guarantees or marketing aid from business groups or governments.
Delta Air Lines discontinued the Atlanta-Shanghai route Sept. 1, though it still flies to Shanghai from Detroit. It also cut nonstops between Atlanta and Seoul, South Korea and Cape Town, South Africa.
“The fact that we have so many passengers looking to go so many places, there hasn’t been a need for incentives,” DeCosta said of the airport. “I believe we’ll get a return of a flight without an incentive, but it’s something that should be on the list for consideration.”
Atlanta has nonstop flights to nearly 70 international destinations -- more than any other U.S. city its size, according to Delta. For the year through July, international traffic at Hartsfield-Jackson was down about 4.1 percent from 2008; total traffic was down 2.8 percent.
DeCosta said Delta hasn’t told him when or if it plans to resume Atlanta-Shanghai nonstops. The route’s economic impact was estimated at $387 million when it launched in 2008. DeCosta said he understood Delta was losing about $1 million a month on the route, however.
Boston Logan, Miami and Dallas/Fort Worth airports offer airlines incentives for international flights. In Pittsburgh, along with airport incentives, a public/private partnership offered a revenue guarantee worth up to $9 million for Delta flights to Paris. Portland this year approved $3.5 million to pay Delta to continue Tokyo flights.
In a statement, Delta said “we routinely partner with communities and airports to consider new service and are willing to review any proposal that makes good business sense for the community as well as Delta.”
The state of Georgia has not offered incentives for international flights, said spokeswoman Stefanie Paupeck. “Our incentives are based on the jobs or infrastructure that protects the taxpayers’ investment and presents a return,” Paupeck said. Incentives are “not something that we would currently have the funding to support,” said Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Lauren Jarrell.
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