Gainesville Sun - January 30, 2001

By JOE COOMBS
Sun business writer

To shave some time off its local deliveries, FedEx Express has established a division at Gainesville Regional Airport that will bring 15 jobs to the area.

FedEx's airport operations started Monday and includes two Cessna cargo airplanes and 12 delivery vehicles.

For now, FedEx's target delivery areas for the new service are within four ZIP codes in the city's north and east sections: 32601, 32603, 32605 and 32609. Those areas were targeted for having a higher concentration of businesses, but FedEx hopes to expand its new service to the entire city, said David Salerno, FedEx's station manager at the airport.

"This has been in the planning process for about a year," Salerno said. "It's necessary, due to the growth in Gainesville and our increase in business here."

The move will allow FedEx to offer guaranteed, overnight delivery by 10:30 a.m. for residents and businesses in several parts of Gainesville, and provide a small amount of revenue for the airport, said Charise Szwed, the airport's marketing and communications director.

"This is totally new for the airport," Szwed said. "FedEx has serviced the Gainesville area in the past, but never with a local sorting and distribution center."

Through landing fees and leasing revenues, the airport will earn about $13,000 a year from FedEx, but the real benefit is for local companies and residents who need packages in a faster amount of time, Szwed said.

FedEx will work out of an area operated by Flightline Gainesville Inc., a subsidiary of the airport that handles all private aircraft, such as cargo operations. The only other company that provides a similar service at Gainesville Regional Airport is DHL, a package delivery company that maintains one Cessna airplane at the airport.

FedEx's planes primarily will make flights between Gainesville and Jacksonville International Airport, where FedEX keeps higher-volume carriers for cargo, said Bob Van Riper, general manager of Flightline Gainesville Inc.

"Rather than driving out to Jacksonville to pick up all the cargo, the planes will hook up with the larger carriers and bring the cargo back to Gainesville," Van Riper said. "By flying it in, they'll be able to reach the customers faster."

FedEx's previous guaranteed overnight delivery time in Gainesville was by 12 p.m., and the new service should save at least 90 minutes on those orders.

Joe Coombs can be reached at 338-3102 or coombsj@gvillesun.com.

See January 30, 2001, issue of Gainesville Sun for original article.