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GAO SCASD Report

The Boyd Group, Inc.
Advisors to the Aviation Industry
Since 1984

78 Beaver Brook Canyon Road
Evergreen, Colorado, 80439
303-674-2000
303-674-9995 Facsimile
aviation-info@aviationplanning.com

The Boyd Group Advantage

More Success Than Any Other Consultant
In Translating SCASD Grants
Into Additional Air Service
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Since the inception of the Small Community Air Service Development Program, The Boyd Group has been more successful than any other consultant in assisting clients in winning air service grants. Well over $20 million.

Not only that, but we've been more successful, too, in helping communities actually turn their grants into viable additional air service - including some communities who used other consultants to originally prepare their application.  

Take A Look...

Note that these are just some of the communities that we've helped so far in translating SCASD dollars into better air service. We're currently in progress with a number of other clients in building better air service with their grants. Read on - and then give us a call.

Durango, Colorado. The Boyd Group worked with the community in crafting a SCASD strategy that would attract additional Eastbound service. The grant was awarded, and Delta Air Lines service was recruited to its Salt Lake City hub. The carrier initiated operations based on the SCASD grant. The DOT, unfortunately, eventually later reneged on awarding the grant for Delta service on the technicality that the service to the hub went north to access eastbound flights. (Strange, but true.) Nevertheless, the service is in place and is successful.

Sarasota/Bradenton, Florida: The $1.5 million grant - the second-highest in the program's history - also represents the greatest success. After helping the community win the grant award, The Boyd Group worked with SRQ to attract low-fare AirTran service to Atlanta. This has since incubated additional LCC service, resulting in enplanement levels jumping 55% between 2002 and 2006.

Binghamton, New York: Enhanced westbound and international connectivity was accomplished using grant funds to support upgraded capacity to Northwest’s Detroit hub. Traffic analyses by The Boyd Group were a central part of the data used to attract this service.

Lewiston, Idaho: After having won their grant, the community looked for a consultant that could best showcase their need for access to the East. The Boyd Group was chosen, and the result is successful service to Delta’s Salt Lake City hub that has eliminated this deficiency.

Fresno, California: The Boyd Group helped the community win a $1 million grant, which was then used to negotiate new low-fare service to Frontier’s Denver hub.

Erie, Pennsylvania: Their grant was applied toward implementation of new service to Philadelphia and seasonal service to Charlotte via US Airways. The Boyd Group worked with the community in crafting presentations and assisting in negotiations with the carrier.

Latrobe, Pennsylvania: After working with the community to win their grant, The Boyd Group developed presentations and data that convinced Northwest Airlink to enter the market, re-establishing flights at a community that had earlier lost all scheduled service.

Charleston, West Virginia: The Boyd Group identified a specific need for service to Houston on the part of the local petro-chemical industries, and after the grant was awarded, the firm provided data to convince Continental to enter the market from its hub at Houston Intercontinental.

Lynchburg, Virginia: The grant that The Boyd Group helped the community win has been used to successfully incubate an upgrade to jet service by Delta Connection to Atlanta.

Chattanooga, Tennessee: Continental has implemented service to its hub at IAH to take advantage of the growing levels of commerce between Eastern Tennessee and Central America.

Rhinelander, Wisconsin: The Boyd Group worked with Northwest in crafting a program to increase capacity at this community. Subsequent to completing negotiations and initiation of the new service, traffic levels increased over 20%. In 2007, The Boyd Group assisted RHI in winning a second SCASD grant.

Kalamazoo/Battle Creek, Michigan: After assisting AZO in winning their SCASD grant, The Boyd Group completed comprehensive analyses that convinced Delta Air Lines to implement nonstop RJ service to Atlanta.

Muskegon, Michigan: Working closely with the community, a program was accomplished that convinced Northwest to upgrade service by adding RJs into the schedule to Detroit/Metro.

Tupelo, Mississippi: After being awarded a grant, the community turned to The Boyd Group, which identified significant potential traffic flows – both domestic and international – that induced Delta to enter the market with new RJ flights to Atlanta.

Shreveport, Louisiana: The Boyd Group identified emerging automotive industry traffic flows in the region, which Northwest found to be highly valuable to its Detroit hub. The resulting nonstop SHV-DTW service was so successful that the grant was shifted to upgrading capacity to Memphis.

The track record is clear. The Boyd Group is unrivaled in helping communities make the best use of their SCASD grants. Give us a call to find out how we can help your community achieve its air service goals.

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Highlights of GAO Program Review

In the first week of December, 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report to congress on the effectiveness of the Small Community Air Service Development Grant Program.

The report concluded that the program "Achieved Mixed Results" - which in the context of the paltry amount of money allocated by Congress, means it was a huge success.

Not In The Zone. Most of the report's focus on the downside of the "mixed results" was related to the portion of the SCASD program that involved the "Air Service Development Zone" designation. Nobody, it seems, can figure out what that really is, or what it's supposed to do. There was no additional grant money, and almost nothing in the legislation that gave any idea what the "Zone" was supposed to accomplish.

As for the rest of the program, the only real concern the GAO seemed to have was that a lot of the grant money simply hasn't been applied to any real local program as yet. There are two reasons for this, neither of which were discussed in much detail in the report. The first reason is that it takes a lot of time to negotiate with carriers. The second reason - not mentioned at all - was that some of the grants were for projects that had no earthly chance of becoming reality.

Gimme The Money Back. According to the GAO, in a couple of communities, the grant was actually terminated, with the DOT recovering some or all of the dollars awarded. One of these was the 2002 program where a couple of Wyoming communities were Svengali-ed into investing grant money, as well as some locally-generated gelt, into buying a 19-seat Metro III, an airliner that as an investment made about as much sense as a down payment on the Brooklyn Bridge. They then turned it over to an airline, with the idea of accessing the supposedly-huge untapped O&D market to Billings. After costing the airline involved enough to almost put it out of business, the communities finally peddled the airplane, likely at a loss. How much of the grant money was recovered was not noted in the study.

DOT SCASD Staff: Great Work. Nevertheless, the SCASD program is an example of how government can do things right.

One of the key indicators of this was the results of a survey conducted among airports which have received grants. In general, over 90% reported that they were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the program, and - tellingly - with the way the DOT staff have handled the program. When one considers the political pressures that these people had to probably tolerate, that's a real tribute.

Great GAO Examples, Too. The Boyd Group was particularly gratified that a number of the SCASD successes reviewed by the DOT were at communities we assisted in filing the grant application. These included Charleston WV, Lynchburg VA, and Rhinelander WI. In the last instance, only about half the grant was needed, and the net result was a 20% increase in enplanements.

The point again: The Boyd Group has had more success than any other consulting in both developing winning applications and in working to use them to build better air service.

We'd be honored to assist with your airport's air service development needs. Give Mike Mooney a call at (303) 674-2000, or e-mail us at info@AviationPlanning.com and get the jump on  your competitors in developing a tactical and strategic plan to assure your community has the air service it needs to compete in the global marketplace.

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