Hurricane Irma damage minimal at SRQ, other than loss of flights

Hurricane Irma put a damper on what was shaping up as a solid business month at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, forcing the cancellation of 80 flights and 8,378 passenger seats.

Short of being able to control an act of nature, SRQ management and staff did all they could by battening down and covering equipment so that operations could resume soon after the storm passed.

Damage was minimal, mostly downed trees on airport property.

“The employees did just a wonderful job,” airport CEO and president Rick Piccolo said at the conclusion of a power-point presentation detailing hurricane preparations and recovery at the airport during a Monday afternoon meeting of the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority.

“They did a great job before the hurricane, during the hurricane and after the hurricane,” he said. “We expect October, November and December to be pretty good months.”

Airport authority chairman John Stafford commended Piccolo and airport staff.

“We appreciate everything everyone did in securing the airport,” Stafford said.

“He did an outstanding job of getting the airport closed and opened again,” airport authority secretary Carlos Beruff said of Piccolo.

In other business, the airport authority:

• Discussed $25 million in capital projects, including the construction of new T-hangars, the proposed North Quad Access Roadway, which is needed to open 100 acres of airport property for development, and the purchase of 13 new jet loading bridges. The improvements are being made on a pay-as-you-go basis to keep the airport debt-free. A new air traffic control tower under construction and expected to open in the spring or early summer of 2018 is being built in part to facilitate the development of the 100 acres. The new tower, built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, was required to allow controllers to see all aspects of flight operations in the new acreage, as well as elsewhere at the airport.
• Piccolo reported that United Airlines inked a three-year signatory agreement with the airport, replacing the one-year agreements it had signed in previous years. “This is a great sign that United is in for the longer haul,” Piccolo said.
• Piccolo, who was named executive director of the airport in 1995, has agreed to stay at the helm of the airport for at least another year. Beruff was named to explore with Piccolo what he would like to see in his new contract and report back to the board.

This story was originally published September 25, 2017 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Hurricane Irma damage minimal at SRQ, other than loss of flights."