Business is booming at SRQ airport. But all that growth is coming at a cost

A new set of challenges accompanies all the new business at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, where passenger traffic was up 35.2 percent in February over a year ago.

Airport officials aren’t complaining, considering that revenues are up 9 1/2 percent over budget and that 150,607 passengers passed through the SRQ terminal in February, compared to 111,389 a year ago.

“All of our revenue lines are trending up. As an example, food and beverage sales are up between 27 and 40 percent, and rental cars are up 15 percent for the first quarter of the year,” airport president and chief executive officer Rick Piccolo said Tuesday.

The passenger gains are striking. Allegiant Airlines and Frontier each had more than 8,500 passengers in February. American Airlines had 13,568. A year ago, the total for those three airlines was zero for the month.

“The only downside with all this additional traffic is the added challenge of keeping up with it,” Piccolo said.

One example is airport upkeep. This week, the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority awarded a five-year contract to Owens Realty Services for janitorial services at the airport, worth $1,167,637.12 a year, about double the amount the airport previously paid.

The increased passenger traffic at the airport means more time is needed to clean and maintain, and the tight labor supply means that employers are having to work harder to find help, and pay more as well.

Also, Airport authority members this week awarded a $189,135 contract to Prime Engineering Inc. to design, permit and provide bidding services to expand the fuel farm.

The expansion would provide an additional 100,000 gallons of fuel storage. Increased air traffic has reduced the airport’s fuel storage from three days to 1 1/2 days, which is below industry standards.

In addition, airport authority members this week:

▪ Awarded a $176,219 contract to Sweet Sparkman Architects to provide architectural and engineering design services to renovate and upgrade terminal offices and meeting facilities.

▪ Awarded a $147,996 contract to D. H. Griffin Wrecking Company to demolish the airport’s old air traffic control tower. The new 128-foot air, $25 million air traffic control tower was dedicated in September 2018. The new tower was designed to improve air traffic operations and allow the development of 92 acres of airport property.

▪ Approved waiving purchasing policy to allow purchase of additional amplifiers needed by the airport’s new hearing loop system. The hearing loop system allows hearing-impaired persons to connect between their hearing aids and the airport’s paging system. The cost of the hearing loop system is $116,790.

▪ Ranked Kimley-Horn first among three firms vying to provide engineering, design and permitting services for the rehabilitation of taxiway Bravo North. The existing runway is more than 20 years old. Staff will seek to negotiate terms of a contract with Kimley-Horn. If those talks fail, the talks will move to the second-ranked firm, Hanson Professional Services.

▪ Approved purchase of a vacant lot on Poinciana Drive for $75,000. The property is located within the runway protection zone. The purchase helps protect the runway zone from obstructions and incompatible land use in the event an aircraft crashes beyond the end of the runway.

This story was originally published March 26, 2019 at 12:05 PM.