Centerlines - April 2008 - (Page 7) PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Airports To Help Stranded Passengers BEING STUCK ON an airplane is never fun. We have heard the horror stories. Maybe you’ve seen the homemade videos that are posted on YouTube. Perhaps, more importantly, as airport operators you have experienced these events firsthand. More than 22,000 people have joined the Coalition for an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights, demanding that Congress act. The group’s founder, Kate Hanni, explains her goals in a guest column in this edition of Centerlines (page 13). Both the Senate and the House have included airline consumer protections in their respective measures to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration. Additionally, $2.5 million was added to the Department of Transportation (DOT) budget in the omnibus appropriations bill to help the consumer affairs division investigate more complaints about overbooked flights, lost luggage, and long delays. DOT also announced the formation of the National Task Force to Develop Model Contingency Plans to Deal with Lengthy Airline OnBoard Ground Delays. I am pleased that Debby McElroy, our executive vice president for policy and external affairs, has been appointed to the DOT Task Force, which has been charged with developing a toolbox of checklists and contingency plans. Airports, however, are not waiting for someone to tell them how to put passengers first. Our airports are taking the lead, both individually and collectively. A number of the major hubs—Houston and Minneapolis-St. Paul for example—use incident command centers for major weather events. Atlanta, which has a system in place to work closely to provide assistance to airlines when requested, has purchased mobile stairs to help deplane passengers when a gate is not available. The secondary airports—those often used for diverted flights—have also stepped forward. For example, at Fresno Yosemite International Airport the airport operations manager will visit each stranded plane every 15 minutes to assess how to best meet the passenger’s needs. The plan was tested in early January, when 20 planes were diverted to Fresno because of bad weather in the San Francisco area. These are just some of the proactive, practical steps developed by airports to use in the event of extended irregular operations that were discussed in a series of meetings over the last five months. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport took the initiative last September in calling together industry representatives to begin a dialog. In January, ACI-NA hosted the second meeting in the Washington area, which drew nearly 100 participants from the United States, Canada and the Bahamas. The airport, airline and concession representatives discussed the most important elements of a contingency plan, including ensuring adequate staffing in shops and restaurants after hours, providing passenger assistance to locate hotel rooms, providing free Wi-Fi in the terminal, providing cots, mats, blankets and personal hygiene products as well as assisting with chaperones for unaccompanied minors and providing pet relief areas. The recommendations from these meetings were provided to the DOT Task Force to assist in their deliberations. ACI-NA has taken a leadership role in making certain that needs of the passengers come first during irregular operations and extended ground delays—and we look forward to working with the airlines, DOT, FAA and Congress in their work to assist the traveling public. GREG PRINCIPATO PRESIDENT, ACI-NA centerlines Airports Council International– North America 1775 K Street NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20006 (202) 293-8500 www.aci-na.org ® 2008 ACI-NA Executive Committee Randall “Randy” H. Walker Chair Clark County Department of Aviation John D. Clark III First Vice Chair Jacksonville Aviation Authority G. Hardy Acree Second Vice Chair Sacramento County Airport System Frank R. Miller Secretary-Treasurer Pensacola Regional Airport Fredrick “Rick” J. Piccolo Immediate Past Chair Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority James C. Cherry Ex Officio Aéroports de Montréal ACI Board Chairman 2008 Board of Directors Bruce Carter Metropolitan Airport Authority of Rock Island County Benjamin R. DeCosta Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport David. N. Edwards, Jr. Asheville Regional Airport Authority Jim M. Ethridge Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority Nuria I. Fernandez City of Chicago Department of Aviation Bradley S. Livingston Dane County Regional Airport William F. Marrison Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Charles “Skip” T. Miller Louisville Regional Airport Authority Reginald K. Milley Edmonton Regional Airports Authority Stephen J. Mitchell Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Morton V. Plumb, Jr. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Mark Reis Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Barry Rempel Winnipeg Airports Authority, Inc. Lester W. Robinson Wayne County Airport Authority William R. Vanecek Buffalo Niagara International Airport Mark VanLoh Kansas City Aviation Department Joseph W. Waller HMSHost Corporation Joseph DiDomizio Hudson Group Shauna Forsythe Alliance Airport Advertising Laddie E. Irion URS Deborah T. Meehan SH&E, Inc. David Naleway Mark A. Perryman Landrum & Brown, Inc. Randy D. Pope, PE Burns & McDonnell 2008 Associate Board of Directors Susan Kurland Chair Depfa First Albany Securities, LLC Robert A. Hazel Vice Chair Oliver Wyman Joseph W. Waller Immediate Past Chair HMSHost Corporation Fredrick J. (Rick) Piccolo ACI-NA Board Liaison Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority Donald G. Andrews Reynolds, Smith and Hills, Inc. Leslie K. Cappetta SSP America, Inc. www.aci-na.org | CENTERLINES 7 http://www.aci-na.org http://www.aci-na.org
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