Gainesville Sun - March 20, 1998

By DOUG MARTIN
Sun staff writer

If present trends continue, Delta Air Lines' leaving could rip a $400,000 hole in the budget of the Gainesville Regional Airport.

"We could very easily end up in the red this year," Airport Director Gene Clerkin told a meeting Thursday of the Gainesville-Alachua County Regional Airport Authority. "We need to cut expenses."

Clerkin said no layoffs are expected, but purchases of discretionary items are on hold until the crisis passes.

Airport staff reported that airport parking receipts fell $20,000 in January and $30,000 in February when compared to the same months last year.

In addition, Delta's departure in December will reduce landing fees by $75,000 this fiscal year.

Clerkin, however, assured the authority that revenues this year from land sales at the Airport Industrial Park would cover the expected shortfall.

The authority already has more than $200,000 from land sales and expects another $275,000 after the closing of a deal to sell 25 acres in the industrial park to Nordstrom.

Several authority members expressed reluctance to spend the proceeds of land sales on operational costs.

The monies should go instead into a reserve fund for capital projects that will in turn earn money for the airport, authority members said.

"In business, I need to maintain a reserve fund," said authority member Harry Slaughter. "We need to adopt the same practice."

Authority member Jon Morris pointed out the need to spend money on marketing to staunch the flow of passengers to other airports.

"We face a challenge," Clerkin responded to Morris. "Ocala has decided to go after our existing air service."

In the wake of Delta leaving, Ocala formed an air service task force to attract a commuter airline to its airport, which lost its last commercial carrier in 1987.

The Gainesville Regional Airport is the closest airport to Ocala, which contributes 37 percent of the airport's passengers.

Any loss of passengers from Ocala would prove catastrophic to the airport, when coupled with the 17 percent drop in passengers seen since December.

Despite the call for cuts, Clerkin received a 5 percent raise Thursday retroactive to last Oct. 1, his first pay increase since January 1995.

Clerkin, who has led the airport since 1984, now is paid $76,118 as part of a total benefit package worth $92,000.

See March 3, 1998, issue of Gainesville Sun for original article.