Centerlines - March 2009 - (Page 27) REVENUE ARENA the club, whether or not he or she has a membership. Louisville Regional Louisville Regional Airport entered into an agreement with HMS Host in October 2000 for the vendor to operate a 1,600-square-foot, common-use lounge, the Altitude Club. The club is located post-security with easy access for all customers, said Tom Tyra, director of marketing and air service development. Under the agreement, the airport receives a percentage of gross sales in the lounge, for photocopies and alcoholic beverages, but not including annual memberships and daily passes, according to Darrell Watson, director of properties. The authority and HMS Host shared construction costs for the lounge, but the majority was borne by the airport as it was included in the terminal renovation, said Tyra. Each month the club sees roughly 200-300 visitors, according to Tyra. In early 2008, Louisville began working with HMS Host to “rebrand” the club and distributed direct mail pieces and brochures to promote the facility. The rate structure was changed from $9.95 and $12.95 day passes (depending on airline club status) to $5 per user. The airport also has annual and monthly passes available for $199 and $25, respectively. A discounted coupon book for corporate sales has helped the airport boost use of the club, Tyra said. For $20, companies can purchase five day-passes to distribute to company employees. Lounge hours are matched closely with the airport’s heavy traffic times. The airport looks at the lounge as more of a customer service amenity than a revenue generator. “It’s to go above and beyond what we do for our customers,” he said. “In the era of airlines adding fees for baggage, airports need to make sure that we fill in for where the airlines used to offer services.” ■ www.aci-na.org | CENTERLINES The Executive Club at Mobile Regional Airport is some 600-square-feet and was built by the airport at a cost of $39,000. Previously, an airline operated a club at the airport, but decided to end the service. The airport authority saw the value in the amenity and renovated the club, making it a common-use facility. month. Annual expenses for the club total some $3,000 to $4,500, according to Harkins. “Our goal is mainly to have it as a service,” Julie Bordes, marketing manager said. “Our goal is to break even.” The club room complements the airport’s other premium services, including valet parking, carwash and shuttle service, Harkins explained. Mobile promotes the club through the airport’s frequent flyer club, Passport Program, and the terminal’s customer service center. Evans said DFW was an attractive venture for his company because of the lack of investment required. “We didn’t have to sign a lease, buy equipment or furniture,” he explained. In addition to Priority Pass members, a day pass for DFW travelers is available for $35. Like other airports, Evans said the biggest challenge is “making the traveling public aware that this is available because we don’t interact directly with (them).” It has taken “a while to ramp-up traffic” to the lounge and that “it took a couple of years to break even. It was never a significant amount of money that we were losing, but it did take a while to make people aware of the lounge. As our membership has grown, traffic (to the lounge) has grown,” Evans said. The lounge is available 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. As demand increases, it may be available more hours. Electronic signage in the lounges can be easily switched to denote whichever carrier or operator is currently occupying the room. Roughly 800 people use the lounge each month, which Evans said isn’t a big number. “We want it bigger; the more visitors the better and the more revenue for the airport.” Of that number, he estimated 500 are Priority Pass members and the rest are day pass customers. Based on the annual permit with DFW, Priority Pass pays the airport a fee for every person who uses Dallas-Fort Worth International Dallas-Fort Worth International designed a common-use club space into its new Terminal D for the use of its foreign carriers, said spokesman Brian Murnahan. With the limited schedules of the airlines in mind, “flex space” allows three separate areas to expand into two or one, depending on the needs of the airlines. Priority Pass operates the lounge facilities in the new Terminal D. DFW is the only airport where the company operates the lounge, said company president Terry Evans, and it does so through an agreement with Gideon Toal Management Services. Priority Pass pays Gideon Toal a fee and in return, Priority Pass gives DFW a portion of the revenue. Priority Pass, founded in 1992, is the largest, independently-operated lounge company in the world. It has some 2 million members worldwide. 27 http://www.aci-na.org
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