That's right sell ORH... As one of the biggest fans of ORH, I have always seen and still see the untapped potential in ORH. Over the past two years trying to deal with the current management structure, I have come to realize the City of Worcester has no business being in the airport management business. This is pretty common practice in the City of Worcester, as exemplified by DCU Center or Convention Center, where professional management companies run the day to day operations.. Same goes for Union Station now.
It would be very difficult to get a management company, however, to take over ORH, unless we offered a long-term deal (99 years) like they did at Stewart Airport in upstate New York. Although I still believe that an RFP should have been put out 21 months ago, we are running out of time; for example, we can not put out an RFP for a restaurant slot, imagine how long an RFP to run the airport would take?
What options are left?? There are two-CLOSE ORH or SELL ORH. Sorry Charley Farely, first we are not sure hot the FAA will treat past grants, to determine how much that we would owe if we closed, and and secondly I still believe in the potential of a successful ORH. All of this has lead me to believe, we need to SELL ORH.
Whats the point of getting MassPort to extend the contract another three years?? They are not committed to the success of ORH and we will just flounder for another three years. At the same time can you really blame MassPort for not being committed? I don't. What benefit do they derive from spending time and effort turning ORH around? Answer-none.
On the other hand, what if MassPort actually owned ORH? Now, they would have a vested interest to make ORH successful, as the owners not just a temporary custodian. At the same time, we should not just limit ourselves to MassPort as the only potential buyer... We have 15 months until a $2,000,000 bill is on our desk, SELL ORH now!!!
Same Time Next Year
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It’s been nearly a year since I wrote about the problems that come from
having 11 bosses who are not on the same page about anything, as well as
suggestion...
4 months ago
9 comments:
I agree with that!!
John H:
Initially it was something that I did not want to do--give up control of ORH. After two years of following the actions at ORH, I see no other choice...
Bill
Stewart is a little over an hour from NYC Metro, not even to Albany. That is NOT in upstate NY.
Nevertheless, good idea, if airlines think it will help..
YNG:
Thanks for letting us know how far Stewart is from NYC Metro.
Bill
I'm with you on that! Sell ORH! Here are my 3 top selections to make a pitch to:
1) Southwest Airlines; why not? They have a presence around Boston (Jet Blue's new stomping ground). By incorporating Worcester in with TF Green and Manchester airport's you are essentially choking off jetBlue's prospective clients from the North, South and West !!!
2) Virgin American Airlines, startup with deep pockets, ORH would make for a great New England hub, especially where they are mimicking Jet Blue and Southwest's business model.
3) EasyJet (http://www.easy.com/stelios) ; Europe's premier discount airline; CEO makes no bones about wanting to enter US market; why not start with a base on the East Coast of the US which is close to his London base of his European operations?
Just my 2 cents...
Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA
Out of those 3 airlines, the only one that I can possibly see coming to ORH is Southwest...and even that is a stretch. Virgin America has already stated that they plan to enter primary markets, and it would be financial suicide and stupidity for a european carrier to chose a second tier airport like ORH as their entry airport. While a Southwest or a jetBlue would be the best thing for this ariport, with the current state of affairs...i just dont see that happening.
Any way you slice it, I think we all agree the City of Worcester has proven that they should not be in the airport management business. We should thank MassPort for being a band-aid, buying us time, but we have one flight three times per week to Sanford-Orlando to show for our efforts while we lose $2,000,000 per year.
Put the airport up for sale and see who comes to the table...
A private party would never buy ORH.
Privately owned airports are not eligible for federal funding, so whoever bought it would be stuck with thw whole tab. Bill, do you want to buy it? How much would you pay?
The ORH budget for the next fivew years is over twenty-five million dollars. IMG says it will cost eight million to close it. What value does anyone get by spending the additional seventeen million dollars? (answer - none)
A while back I proposed leaving the airport 'open', but stop spending money on it. Take a look around at the area private airports, and see how little it really takes to operate an airport. The only requirement for an airport is a runway. Stop spending money on a full-time manager, liason, accountant, etc, etc. The budget calls for almost $2,500,000 in salaries alone. All you really need is one person to mow the lawn, and plow the runway in the winter.
In the 80's I used to fly out of ORH frequently. I can remember waiting in the terminal and watching jet after jet land. ORH was hopping on a Sat or Sun in the 80's. What happened? What was it that worked then that won't work now? If ORH could become this busy again, it could create a huge economic boost for the city. I don't disagree with selling ORH to Massport, but would we regret it if it picked up a huge amount of business and very little money was flowing back into the community? Personally, I love flying out of ORH. I don't want to drive an hour to Boston, find the terminal, find parking, rush through the airport just to nearly miss my flight. As a central Mass resident, I would love to just drive up to ORH, park my car and walk into the terminal and board my flight. ORH is convenient, it's safe - everytime I have flown out of there, I see their security everywhere, that's comforting to not have to worry about leaving my vehicle or other dangers that you frequently find at larger airports. ORH is a great place to fly period. We need to find out what worked back in 1987 and bring that back
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