While it's largely grounded now, Akron-Canton Airport is making plans to resume flying.
To succeed will mean not only overcoming the COVID-19 crisis and its dramatic impact on overall operations, but also winning back scheduled flights sought by other airports.
Some think Akron-Canton has a better chance of recouping its losses than other, similarly affected small airports. But although the airport has support from users and economic developers, most agree it's going to be a bumpy ride back.
"Traffic is roughly down 95% since the outbreak. We're averaging about 100 passengers through the TSA per day," said Renato "Ren" Camacho, president and CEO of Akron-Canton.
That has meant big job cuts, including at vendors, parking operations and nearly all aspects of the airport, which has seen the number of people working onsite drop from about 325 to 48, Camacho said. He added he has had to defer rent for many of their employers, but has so far managed not to lay off any employees of the airport itself, thanks in part to $7.6 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding the airport received.
"We consider our employees our most prized asset, and we have not had to lay off or furlough anyone — knock on wood," Camacho said.
The initial impact of COVID-19 was swift and brutal, he said, as business travel ground to a halt and passengers generally quit flying. The number of flights per day dropped from 25 to three.
That was exacerbated on May 8, when Delta Airlines announced it was halting activity at Akron-Canton. While that was just one flight, Delta is an important partner Akron-Canton hoped to keep, Camacho said.
The airport's revenues have been cut by substantially more than 50%, Camacho estimates. He still has tenants operating and paying rent, but the fees from passenger flights are nearly gone, and Akron-Canton doesn't handle much cargo traffic.
Before the pandemic, Camacho was projecting a small profit for the year. That would have been reinvested in the airport, which has been working on a gate expansion. Now, he figures losses for the year will total about $2.9 million.
Even against that ghastly backdrop, Camacho said he hasn't lost hope. He's working to get the airport through the current crisis and then back on track with the airlines that use it — including, he hopes, Delta once again. Camacho said he's focused on getting the airport ready for a return to business, including with new sanitization procedures and features such as Plexiglas panels to keep the coronavirus from being passed between customers and personnel at ticket counters and other places.
"I would be a lot more concerned had we not received this recent CARES Act funding," he said.
That will keep the airport stable this year and hopefully beyond, at least in terms of its direct payroll and operations, Camacho said. That's because he intends to try to make that money last.
"We have four years in which to spend the money, so we're going to be very strategic," he said. "But had we not received those funds, I would be sounding a lot more pessimistic."
Camacho said he's optimistic about the airport's long-term future because it still has good routes in place. Although most of its flights have been canceled, Akron-Canton still has nonstop service to Chicago, Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C., on either Spirit or American Airlines. Spirit is still hoping, along with Camacho, to begin flights to Orlando later this year as well.
Such routes might be what saves the airport, too.
Airline industry analyst Bob Mann in Port Washington, N.Y., who follows small and midsize airports, said longer, nonstop flights like those offered by Akron-Canton usually come back quicker than short hauls. Those shorter flights have to compete with other forms of transportation, including driving, and are less profitable to airlines. On top of that, travelers may feel as if they have to fly to cities 500 or 1,000 miles away, but may choose to drive to destinations that are closer.
As for how long a return to normal will take, that's anyone's guess, because no one's ever seen the aviation industry crash this hard before. The number of people traveling in the U.S. per day has dropped from more than 2 million to about 200,000, Mann noted.
"We're operating at 1950s traffic volume, but with lower revenue and year-2020 infrastructure costs. Obviously, none of that works anymore," Mann said.
But Akron-Canton is appreciated by its users and tenants, who have always maintained that the airport offered the services, and often the flights, of a big airport, but with the convenience of a small airport.
"Our passengers love flying in and out of there," said Rick Pawlak, senior vice president of Akron-Canton-based Ultimate Jet Charter and Ultimate Air Shuttle.
Like the airport itself, Pawlak said Ultimate has managed to not lay off any employees, thanks to CARES Act assistance, which has enabled the airline to continue medical flights in and out of Akron-Canton.
The sports teams, casino high-rollers and others that used to fill his charter flights from Akron-Canton are gone, but Pawlak said he believes they'll come back and he wants to be ready when they do. That includes upgrading the company's logistics systems and working ahead on maintenance while planes are grounded.
"I really think once the stay at home order is released and the travel ban starts declining, our business is going to ramp up pretty quickly," Pawlak said.
In the meantime, Akron-Canton is working with other airports around the state to try to convince economic developers and state legislators to provide incentives to help win back airline flights. Camacho said most of the states surrounding Ohio already have such programs, which subsidize operations for airlines that agree to establish new flights. Without them, Ohio will be at a disadvantage when it comes time to compete for rescheduled flights.
Camacho said he's not expecting a program that will provide huge sums of money. However, he'd like to see an effort that combines state funding with matching local dollars, because that would prove to an airline that there is a demand for flights near a specific airport.
Mann agrees that's a good tactic and may be necessary. An airline isn't likely to schedule a new flight just for a six-figure incentive, Mann said.
"If you've got a local community that clearly has skin in the game, that's a whole lot more important," said Mann.
While they wait to see if state legislators will take up that issue, on May 19, Akron-Canton and other airports around the state sent a letter to JobsOhio asking for support. It stated: "Alongside Gov. DeWine, the main goal of airports at the onset of this pandemic was to limit the spread of COVID-19 and to continue serving as critical infrastructure for the movement of goods and essential travel. Our ability to achieve these goals and to continue serving Ohio's businesses, however, will require broad support for Ohio's aviation infrastructure. The JobsOhio Air Service Restoration Fund can help Ohio rebuild and serve the vital economic needs of our communities."
The letter was referring to a $4 million fund JobsOhio announced in February, meant to help airports attract new flights.
JobsOhio hasn't yet said how it will help specific airports, but in light of recent developments, it has increased what it plans to spend supporting them generally.
"To assist airports during this unprecedented time, JobsOhio has budgeted up to $10 million to assist air service restoration and revenue support for five Ohio airports, including Akron-Canton," said Matt Englehart, spokesman for the job-creation agency, via email.
Camacho said he's confident flights will resume and is even hopeful that Delta will return to Akron-Canton.
"Based on the last conversations we had with Delta, they remain confident about coming back to CAK," he said. "We just don't know when that will be and neither do they."
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