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Why can't we get there from TIA?

Airport officials hear ideas on increasing international routes.

By Steve Huettel, Times Staff Writer
Published August 28, 2007

A jet lands at Tampa International Airport.
	[Daniel Wallace | Times]

TAMPA - Why is it so hard to fly from Tampa International Airport to nearly every major international city without changing planes?

The question has vexed the Tampa Bay area's business community for decades. Given a chance to sound off, dozens of business people and local activists pitched ideas to airport officials at a town hall meeting that stretched through most of Monday afternoon.

Among the suggestions: Urge airlines to funnel Latin American travelers through Tampa instead of congested, chaotic Miami; put up directional signs in Spanish as well as English; and get flights direct to Cuba for locals with relatives on the island.

"It's time for Tampa airport to wake up," said Al Artega of Tampa. "There are thousands of Cubans going there through Miami."

Airport officials up the ladder to executive director Louis Miller are painfully aware of TIA's short list of nonstop international markets: London, Toronto, the Cayman Islands, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax. Except for Toronto, flights to the Canadian cities run only in the winter season.

Sometimes, Miller says, government red tape is an obstacle. The federal government sanctions Cuba flights from only four cities, and Tampa's not on the list. But usually the problem boils down to persuading airlines to take a chance on an untested route.

"If there's a demand for travel from Point A to Point B," Miller said, "I promise you an airline somewhere will serve it."

Back in 2000, Tampa had eight year-round nonstops to international destinations including Frankfurt, Germany, Cancun and Jamaica. Airlines ditched the routes when they attracted too few passengers. Even the successful British Airways nonstop to London gets little local business, with 85 percent of passengers from the United Kingdom.

The problem: Too many Tampa Bay travelers fly other carriers through hub airports like Atlanta or New York's JFK International so they can earn frequent flier miles.

Still, Miller said the Tampa airport is stepping up marketing efforts with airlines. The airport is hiring an outside consultant to target former destinations (Frankfurt, Cancun and Jamaica) and get airlines to continue seasonal routes throughout the year.

Some business owners said the airport or local businesses should dangle incentives in front of airlines considering new routes. They pointed out that Orlando landed nonstop Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt, helped by $325,000 in advertising and a guaranteed amount of ticket purchases from Siemens, the German technology giant with a large office in Orlando.

"You've got to make it worth their while," said Ivette Mayo, a former Continental Airlines sales manager who now owns a Tampa consulting business. The airport may waive some fees as an incentive for new international service, Miller said, but it would be up to local business groups to chip in as well.

Ged Carrick, owner of Terra Incognita Ecotours in Tampa, suggested that airlines could be persuaded to use Tampa as a mini-hub to connect travelers between the U.S. and Latin America. Customers would undoubtedly prefer it to Miami, he said.

The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce's CEO, Kim Scheeler, liked Carrick's spirit but questioned the economics. "We're got to make a case to airlines that we've gotten big enough to do that," he said. "But I don't think we're going to get American Airlines to move its hub out of Miami."

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified August 27, 2007, 23:01:05]