Want to fly? Go. Thanks to AirTran, there’s nothing stopping you!
By Bill Settlemyer
President and CEO, Setcom Media
A few months from now, Charleston’s long-running airfare nightmare is scheduled to come to an end, thanks to AirTran Airways and a dedicated team of local folks who closed the deal for AirTran to begin service here.
The week before last, AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson came here to announce the airline’s plans to begin nonstop fights between Charleston and AirTran’s Atlanta hub on May 24 (two flights a day at first, then four starting June 7).
For long-suffering business and leisure travelers here, the news that this outstanding low-fare carrier has chosen Charleston is a welcome relief.
It’s also a relief for many of us in business and government concerned about the negative impact Charleston’s high airfares have had on economic development. As recently as a few weeks ago, our staff continued to hear groans from local economic development officials trying to woo high-paying knowledge-based companies to the region.
Time after time, good prospects have been hooked but not reeled in because our airfares were too high.
The airfare issue has also been a big barrier to attracting more “fly-in” visitors for meetings, conventions and vacation travel. All too often, high airfares have been a showstopper in local efforts to attract meetings and conventions, despite Charleston’s high ranking as a travel destination.
This is good news for our own company too. In 2008, we’re scheduled to host the annual summer meeting of the Alliance of Area Business Publications, an international trade association representing us and 70 other business newspapers and magazines. We’ll look forward to sharing the news of AirTran’s arrival in our market.
The really good news is that our region has enjoyed consistently strong economic growth even without affordable airfares. I get a little giddy thinking about the impact that AirTran’s going to have in its role as a vital component of our economic development infrastructure.
Second time’s the charm
Four years ago, I was one of a number of community leaders trying to reel in AirTran. We came close, but adverse developments in the national economy and the air travel business led AirTran executives to put all of their expansion plans on hold and carefully reassess their growth strategies.
This time around, we had the right team with the right strategy under the right market conditions. Mary Graham (Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce), David Jennings and Sue Stevens (Charleston County Aviation Authority), Helen Hill (Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau) and Gary Edwards (Coastal South Carolina USA) called on AirTran officials at their Orlando headquarters in January, accompanied by aviation consultant Joel Antolini.
With the continued vigorous growth of the Charleston region over the last few years, the team had a great story to tell, bolstered by Charleston’s strong showing in an online AirTran poll last fall asking travelers what new destinations they wanted on the airline’s schedule. South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell also pitched in to make the case for service to Charleston.
Don’t make me come over there!
OK, folks, that’s enough high-fiving. We all have a job to do, and yours is to make sure we keep AirTran here once it arrives. You know the drill, because we talked about it during our first effort to land AirTran three years ago: You need to make a personal and corporate commitment to spend a substantial amount of your air travel dollars with AirTran. And no “one night stands,” either. Let’s make sure this is the best start AirTran has had in any market and then make sure we sustain its success here for the long haul.
Here’s some more good news: Being a loyal AirTran customer is not a tough assignment. The airline has built an outstanding reputation with both business and leisure travelers for the quality and reliability of its service and the treatment of customers by its employees. They also have a great “A+ Rewards” program that’s competitive with the frequent flyer programs offered by the legacy carriers (check www.airtran.com for details). As the airline says in its advertising, “Go. There’s nothing stopping you!”
To its credit, the Charleston Metro Chamber is already on the case. As a chamber member, I received an e-mail the day after AirTran’s announcement asking me to pledge to spend 20% of our company’s air travel budget with AirTran, which, of course, I did.
One idea discussed in informal conversations after the announcement ceremony was to have several thousand “Fly AirTran” bumper stickers printed up to distribute to business people to help maintain “top of mind” awareness of AirTran in the community. During the discussion I said that the Business Journal would do our part by including the stickers as an insert in an issue of our paper. Area chambers could do the same with their member mailings and we could also ask large employers to pitch in.
Remember, if you’re responsible for making or influencing business travel decisions at your company, you need to make your pledge to fly AirTran and spread the goods news about AirTran in the community. To make your business travel pledge, go to the Metro Chamber’s Web site, www.charlestonchamber.net. You’ll find a link on the home page that will take you to the online form for making your pledge.
Do it. Don’t make me come over there!
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