2019 Airport in Transition - Article & Survey
What does the Future Hold for the Binghamton Airport?
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NOTE:
This survey was sent out in July 2019 and I received a lot of feedback, a summary of which is at the bottom of this page. |
It’s no secret that the Binghamton Regional Airport (BGM) faces significant challenges.
In 2010, United, American, and Delta operated at BGM with a total of 109,000 boardings. By 2018, only Delta remained with just 37,000 boardings. Currently, six flights run in/out of BGM each day, all of which run to/from Delta’s Detroit hub. This is a dramatic decline in 8 years.
Broome County currently owns and operates the airport at a loss of $1.4m per year. As an “enterprise fund” it should be self-supporting, however, it’s been many years since it could pay its own bills. BGM has been losing market-share to other small regional airports, such as Elmira, Ithaca, Syracuse, and Scranton for years. These other airports have received more state & federal support and have spent far more on renovations (Elmira has recently completed over $60m in renovations).
As a business owner, I know how important an airport is of our economy, however, without more flyers it’s not clear what the future is for BGM.
In 2010, United, American, and Delta operated at BGM with a total of 109,000 boardings. By 2018, only Delta remained with just 37,000 boardings. Currently, six flights run in/out of BGM each day, all of which run to/from Delta’s Detroit hub. This is a dramatic decline in 8 years.
Broome County currently owns and operates the airport at a loss of $1.4m per year. As an “enterprise fund” it should be self-supporting, however, it’s been many years since it could pay its own bills. BGM has been losing market-share to other small regional airports, such as Elmira, Ithaca, Syracuse, and Scranton for years. These other airports have received more state & federal support and have spent far more on renovations (Elmira has recently completed over $60m in renovations).
As a business owner, I know how important an airport is of our economy, however, without more flyers it’s not clear what the future is for BGM.
Can BGM attract more flyers? Almost everyone agrees that in order to attract more flyers, BGM needs to offer more flights. However, in order to offer more flights BGM needs more flyers. It’s a classic catch-22!
Broome County has already funded years of “Fly BGM” advertising campaigns and they help - but the return on investment (ROI) is too small. At this point, the only sure way to bring more activity to BGM is to contract with additional airlines and guarantee to subsidize some percentage of their empty seats.
Recently another idea emerged: The County Executive asked the legislature to allow him to explore outsourcing airport management and operations to a private firm. The legislature unanimously agreed.
What do you think? Please read the survey below and give me your opinion.
Broome County has already funded years of “Fly BGM” advertising campaigns and they help - but the return on investment (ROI) is too small. At this point, the only sure way to bring more activity to BGM is to contract with additional airlines and guarantee to subsidize some percentage of their empty seats.
Recently another idea emerged: The County Executive asked the legislature to allow him to explore outsourcing airport management and operations to a private firm. The legislature unanimously agreed.
What do you think? Please read the survey below and give me your opinion.
Survey Results
People really support our airport! They very rarely fly BGM, but a vast majority think that an airport is an important part of a vibrant community. Read through the data and submit your own response.
How often do you fly?
When was the last time you flew BGM?
Is spending $1.4m per year to support the airport is a good idea?
Should Broome County invest more money to attract more carriers?
Should Broome County consider outsourcing management of BGM?
Comments (Paraphrased & summarized to protect the innocent):
Demographics & General Statistics:
How often do you fly?
- 20% fly two or more times per year
- 20% fly once per year
- 40% fly every few years
- 20% never fly
When was the last time you flew BGM?
- 20% within the last year
- 30% within the last three years
- 50% five or more years
Is spending $1.4m per year to support the airport is a good idea?
- 75% Yes
- 20% No
- 5% Not sure
Should Broome County invest more money to attract more carriers?
- 75% Yes
- 20% No
- 5% Not sure
- This question correlated very highly with the one above
Should Broome County consider outsourcing management of BGM?
- 60% Yes
- 20% No
- 20% Not sure
Comments (Paraphrased & summarized to protect the innocent):
- BC needs an airport for community to grow but we need someone else to run it
- I don't trust outsourcing
- Government is corrupt ad outsourcing is even more corrupt
- Outsourcing is a good idea because it will cut costs
- Lowest bidder doesn't guarantee best service
- Outsourcing brings better management for less cost
- Need more business travelers to use airport
- Need more flights in order to make BGM successful
- Spending $1.4m is a good idea only if there are more carriers
- Need more convenient flights to rest of country
- Family members fly in & out of BGM to visit me
- BGM is too expensive - many people said this
- I'm willing to spend more on BGM if it actually brings more fliers
- And that's just a small sample of the comments I received on the airport!
Demographics & General Statistics:
- Nearly 10% of those receiving the survey responded, which I think is pretty good!
- Approximately 50% were men and 50% women
- Approximately 50% arrived as paper copy and 50% came online