Incentive money for Frontier Airlines a guarantee not a bonus

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:10:59 CST

By: Charlie Schlenker

   The McLean County Chamber of Commerce might not end up spending the nearly half million dollars it is collecting to lure new airline service to Bloomington-Normal. WGLT's Charlie Schlenker has more...

Can't hear? Click here.

   
    As GLT first reported Frontier Airlines is close to announcing four weekly flights between the Central Illinois Regional Airport and Denver. The Airline last month resumed service between Denver and Rockford. That city offered a 700-thousand dollar incentive pool. But, if the Bloomington-Normal agreement ends up being similar to Rockford's, the money only guarantees Frontier will not lose money in the first year of service and would revert to its contributors if unused at the end of that time.
    The Memorandum of Understanding between the McLean County Chamber of Commerce and area governments also indicates money not used would revert to the cities or county after one year of air service.
     In Rockford, Frontier is using 136 passenger Airbus or 99-sear Embraer jets and marketing to leisure travellers, though Denver's hub with more than 150 daily flights makes the service useful to business travellers as well.
     The Central Illinois Regional Airport is campaigning for new service to replace the more than 200-thousand passengers that flew on AirTran last year.
     Any new service requires a significant lead time to allow for ticket sales and infrastructure improvements. Six months between announcement and the beginning of flights is not uncommon.
     Bloomington, Normal, and McLean County governments all have special meetings set Monday to consider contributing to the incentive pool.