Taking off

Russ Widmar and his management team at Fresno Yosemite International Airport have made their business a beacon of excellence in the regional airport sector. He talked to Ruari McCallion about investment, retaining staff and solar panel-covered car parks. ThereÔÇÖs been an airport in Fresno, California since the 1920s, and itÔÇÖs been at its present location since 1947. For most of its existence, Fresno Airport proceeded as a pleasant, but not particularly remarkable, regional airport, serving north-east California and the immediate environs.All that is changing, however, under the leadership of Russell Widmar, FresnoÔÇÖs director of aviation since 2004. ItÔÇÖs the closest airport to Yosemite National Park, hence the ÔÇÿYosemiteÔÇÖ tag, and it has earned the ÔÇÿInternationalÔÇÖ appellation since the introduction of scheduled flights to and from Mexico last April. There are plans for larger airplanes, more carriers and further improvements in a $42 million development program over the next two years. ÔÇ£Fresno International Airport is currently a regional/short-haul airport; our longest flight is to Guadalajara, Mexico, three hours 20 minutes away,ÔÇØ said Widmar. ÔÇ£Dallas/Fort Worth is three hours away; everything else is in the one to two-hour range.ÔÇØ The 1.13 million passenger numbers in 2005 were an equal mix of business travelers and pleasure seekers. The Guadalajara flights are busy, frequent and popular, with workers who still have family in Mexico.ÔÇ£Mexicana Airlines flies a 150-seat Airbus A320 into and out of Fresno, five days a week, between the hours of 8pm and 4am,ÔÇØ he said. ÔÇ£ThatÔÇÖs a comfortable schedule for the people here.ÔÇØ A possible increase to a seven-days-a-week service is under active consideration, but Fresno isnÔÇÖt just popular with Latin America. American Airlines flies non-stop to Dallas/Fort Worth and LAX, and it has had some very good experience last spring and summer. ÔÇ£American Airlines/American Eagle ran 98 percent capacity on its flights for six months,ÔÇØ said Widmar. ÔÇ£From April to September 2006, we saw average growth in passenger traffic of 12.5 percent each month. WeÔÇÖve been setting a lot of new passenger records at this airport.ÔÇØ That sort of performance doesnÔÇÖt come out of the clear blue skies (with which the city is blessed for nine months of the year). ThereÔÇÖs been a lot of development on the 2,300 acre site, heralded by the completion of a new, two-level concourse building in 2002. A new Federal Inspection Station was completed in early 2006 and investment in current and planned infrastructure will transform the terminal into a very comfortable, state-of-the-art, service-oriented facility for airline passengers. Fresno Yosemite already has some impressive technology: it was one of the first US airports to experiment with an anti-terrorist facial recognition system; it led the country in installing a web-based, wireless flight information system; and its Category IIIb instrument landing system is one of the most sophisticated in the country, and ensures that Fresno Yosemite International can continue to receive flights even in winter fog. While in the terminal, passengers can keep in touch with office or home through WiFi, which is available throughout. Fresno Yosemite International is investing in the ÔÇÿhardÔÇÖ infrastructure, too. Carter & Burgess, a major engineering consulting firm, has already completed a pavement improvement program and is in process on taxiway, airfield lighting and drainage enhancements. ÔÇ£Two years ago we were able to convince the FAA that we needed to upgrade the capacity of our terminal facilities, and they agreed to allocate $6 million to $7 million in grant money to help us achieve it. We were able to raise a further $2 million from other sources,ÔÇØ said Widmar. ÔÇ£When the project is completed, we will have a baggage handling system that is elegantly simple ÔÇô but very effective. Everything is flat on the ground ÔÇô we donÔÇÖt need a highly complex, three-story arrangement like, say Manchester Airport in England.ÔÇØ Coping with the increased traffic with Mexicana was, in one respect, relatively low-cost but it gave Fresno Yosemite International the opportunity to introduce a system that made very effective use of available space. Go into just about any terminal building for a busy airport and the things that take up the most space are the check-in desks ÔÇô many of which, at any time, are empty. ÔÇ£We opened up an existing area of the terminal building to prepare for increased passenger numbers brought in by Mexicana, in a $300,000 project,ÔÇØ he explained. ÔÇ£In future phases of the terminal enhancement project, we will use IT to create capacity. We didnÔÇÖt need extra office space, if we could make the best use of what we already have. When an air carrier wants to open a set of check-in desks, they will be able to log in at any workstation and a screen above the operatorsÔÇÖ head will identify the airline, the flight, time of departure and so on. It makes the whole terminal set-up more flexible.ÔÇØ The planned consolidated rental car facility will improve service and make a major contribution to the airportÔÇÖs financials. It will involve $25 million of investment, which is a great deal of money for a business with $13.5 million of annual revenues. ÔÇ£The rental car return area is going to be roofed over with solar pv (photovoltaic) panels,ÔÇØ said Widmar. The StateÔÇÖs governor recently authorized $250 million of seed money to boost solar power usage in California. ÔÇ£We have been able to secure around $5 million of commitment towards our project. Covering the lot would have cost $2 million anyway; the commitment means that the roof can be installed with solar panels and the airport will put that $2 million savings to a different use.ÔÇØ The solar array will generate 1.7mW of electricity a year, which is about one-sixth of our current needs, and may fix that portion of our energy costs for the foreseeable future. If it works as we expect, then we can do more.ÔÇØ The consolidated rental car facility will be completed by the end of 2008, by when demand is expected to have risen still further. Widmar and his team are on a mission to attract low-cost carriers to the airport, capitalizing on its proximity to Yosemite National Park. The airportÔÇÖs outstanding security doesnÔÇÖt result in lengthy delays. The planes it will have coming in will get bigger; there will be more MD80s, Airbus 320s, Boeing 737s and so on as the airlines grow beyond regional jets.The consolidated car rental facility will boost Fresno YosemiteÔÇÖs revenues, reduce its dependence on landing rights fees, which in turn will enable it to offer the low-cost carriers attractive deals, in a virtuous circle.ItÔÇÖs already clear that Widmar is an unusual regional airport manager, with unusual ideas. He has experience over many years as the aviation director in Kansas City and Salt Lake City, has seen the effect of the changes in the air travel business and has come up with some ideas of his own. One is aimed at retaining staff, and the experience they have.ÔÇ£We have a very good and capable management team for such a small airport,ÔÇØ he said. ÔÇ£Generally, airports like ours are regarded as grooming positions for younger people, who then leave to pursue their careers elsewhere. When I arrived, the first question I was asked was: when are you leaving? My predecessor left within a year; I have made a five-year commitment to this community. What IÔÇÖve found is that we have plenty of very capable people in place, across all our operations. We hired a former local police chief to head up public security; our aircraft rescue and fire fighting (ARFF) operation was hived off to the City which allowed us to promote a very qualified ARFF person to operations manager. WeÔÇÖve gone through all our staff and identified a lot of strengths. They can now see a career progression and are more willing to stay. That means we keep their experience and they can, in their turn, better mentor and train. We were able to promote 12 people within the airport organizational structure last year, out of a payroll of 77. WeÔÇÖve really made Fresno Yosemite International Airport the department of choice in City government.ÔÇ£We canÔÇÖt do all this without political support and I have to say, our relationship with the mayor and the council is very good,ÔÇØ said Widmar. ÔÇ£We have had no disagreements of substance at all.ÔÇØ ThereÔÇÖs one more objective on his agenda. ÔÇ£We want to create a ÔÇÿsense of placeÔÇÖ, to leave people with a lasting impression of Fresno. WeÔÇÖre not far from Yosemite, Sequoia and KingÔÇÖs Canyon National Parks, so we are planning to create a replica forest of six to eight giant sequoia trees within the terminal building. There are very few airports in the world where you can land and know exactly where you are. When passengers arrive at or exit the terminal, through a small forest of sequoias, they will remember Fresno Yosemite International Airport.ÔÇØ