Lakeland Linder Regional Airport looks to lure commercial airline service

LAKELAND — Lakeland Linder Regional Airport Director Gene Conrad said he is continuing to work to lure a commercial airline to town that would offer, at least, three to four flights per day to a regional hub.

“I think it’s critical to our future as a city,” Conrad told city commissioners at their annual strategic planning retreat this week. “Over 4,000 people a day are flying out of our community and 4,000 people are flying in.”

Conrad said those 3.1 million customers a year generate more than $520 million of revenue annually, but all of that business is being lost to Tampa and Orlando International airports.

Conrad provided statistics that show Lakeland is the 82nd largest metropolitan statistical area in the nation — larger than Syracuse, New York; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Madison, Wisconsin, all of which have commercial air service at their airports.

Direct Air flew into and out of Lakeland between 2011 and 2012, but provided only three or four flights a week and eventually filed for bankruptcy.

“It’s going to take all of us — our mayor, our commission, our biggest business leaders. It’s going to take Todd Jones at Publix,” Conrad said, referring to Publix’s chief executive officer. “When Publix comes calling, Delta will respond.”

With $34 billion in sales annually and 191,000 employees throughout the Southeast, Lakeland-based Publix is one of the largest companies in Florida.

Conrad said he has not spoken yet to Jones about helping to bring an airline to town, although he worked with former Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw in the past on the topic.

City Manager Tony Delgado said the city has to be an attractive prospect to any airline.

“You go there with some carrots — you can’t just go there and just say look at the numbers,” Delgado said.

Conrad said he is talking with Delta and American Airlines, along with JetBlue, and would like to offer revenue guarantees to the companies.

According to Stanford University a “minimum revenue guarantee is an instrument that can be used by governments in order to attract private investors.” By offering the guarantee, the government agrees to compensate a private entity if revenue falls below the specified threshold, mitigating the risk taken by the private sector.

Kimberly C. Moore can be reached at kmoore@theledger.com or 863-802-7514. Follow her on twitter at KimberlyMooreTheLedger@KMooreTheLedger.