Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-09-15 Airport Committee Minutes Meeting Agenda City of Bangor Airport Committee Meeting City Manager’s Office rd 3 Floor September 15, 2010 4:00 The following City councilors were in attendance: Gerry Palmer, Pat Blanchette and Hal Wheeler. The following City staff was also in attendance, Rebecca Hupp and Risteen Masters. Also in attendance were Swardlick Marketing Group, Paul Bonneau and Steve Mason. Councilor Palmer opened the meeting. Agenda: 1. Western Petroleum agreement: Update Airport Director, Rebecca Hupp requested a renewal of an existing agreement this was a one year agreement. It is a standard agreement and has been reviewed by the City Legal staff. I would ask Council approval to continue with the Agreement. The motion was made by Councilor Blanchette and seconded. Councilor Palmer, this has been approved by Airport Council with no discussion. 2. Airport Marketing & Public Relations Update A. Passenger Statistics- Risteen indicated that August was flat for the year, the minimum down turn was 2% down for a total of 2.7$ down for the year. We still struggle with the capacity; the load factor was 93%. This indicates good passenger traffic. We are still working on Air Service Development. Discussion/Questions: Councilor Blanchette questioned if the Airlines are over booking the flights, will we get larger planes or additional flights? Airport Director Hupp responded that we just don’t have airplanes sitting around. The Airlines are seeing the best way to utilize the planes and they look to see who can best utilize the planes all the time, not just once in a while. U.S. Airways has had one additional flight and they have used a larger aircraft from last year. Delta has upgraded the flight frequencies. The Airlines would like to add capacity but they don’t have the airplanes or the crew to do that. Councilor Blanchette indicated that at one time they took the planes out of capacity when the fuel prices went up, what did they do with those planes? Airport Director Hupp responded that they took the high maintenance not serving the market and that were not cost effective off the market. All of the other airplanes are back in service. Councilor Wheeler indicated that we shouldn’t be alarmed from the stat report and that passengers giving up on seats is not unusual to do this, that Airlines do overbook and that it is nothing new, we are just in a holding pattern. We have average service here. Airport Director responded that there is a strong demand here. We are struggling with demand and supply. People are driving south, and the fares are high. B. Preview of Airport’s Fall Advertising Campaign Airport Director introduced Steve Mason from Swardlick for the new Airport Advertising Campaign. Steve indicated that this campaign was a 3 part campaign, print, television and radio. We did a testimonial campaign while using the Airport. The following were key points in their advertising:  Target audience  User friendly Airport  Right size  Ample parking  Close proximity  Convenient to come home to after a trip  To create a preference for Bangor  Reinforce Airport strength  Use Airport as the setting Steve also said that the next part of the campaign will be on-line. He then introduced Paul Bonneau to finish up the presentation. The following were key points in his presentation:  Amenities and close to home  Find enough right people  60 second commercials  Print listed one benefit of the service (there is 6 benefit statements)  Explained the commercial and the people who spoke in it  Gave the committee a preview of the commercial  The campaign will begin 9/16/10  Print will be in six incursions for the next few weeks  Radio will be in run in two consecutive weeks beginning 9/19 on six radio stations  Television will run in two consecutive weeks on the Bangor stations and Fox stations Discussions/Questions: Councilor Wheeler asked why it is not running on cable stations. Marketing Manager Masters replied that there is enough funding for the extension to cable and the next evolution it will include cable. Wheeler responded by saying that about two thirds of homes have cable and that it was a major mistake not the use the cable stations. Masters replied that right now the advertisement is running during the news, weather and morning shows to start the launch. Also, once the governmental campaigns are over with, the rates will change. The campaign right now will cover 400 Gross Rating points during the morning and evening shows. Wheeler then questioned that everyone that was used in the campaign was a professional, why not a “normal person’? Why is it just Business people? Hupp responded that in this campaign she wanted reliable people, well known, and respected. But these people did discuss leisure travel. Councilor Blanchette said that this was a good campaign, she is ok with the people that was chosen because a lot of people will voice recognize them. She does ask that a slot time schedule be provided to the Airport Committee so that they can make a point to listen or watch the advertisements. Blanchette also asked will it be on MPBN, but MPBN does not run commercials. Masters replied that she will send out a time schedule to them. Councilor Palmer is pleased with what he saw. He would like to see a Canadian to a commercial in the future. He asked if any other comments or discussions. Adjourned