Airport officials mull marketing director
Paying for a marketing
employee always has been an obstacle.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA — In response to comments from the chief executive of the Niles company RTI International Metals that it may move its corporate staff of 100 closer to a a major airport, officials at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport are taking steps to hire a full-time marketing director.
At the meeting Wednesday of the Western Reserve Port Authority, authority members asked Steve Bowser, the airport’s director of aviation, to look into what it would cost and to prepare a job description for hiring someone. They asked for the information to be presented at the next monthly board meeting.
“We’ve been negligent in not marketing the airport,” said Don Hanni Jr., a board member since the end of 2005.
On Tuesday, Dawne Hickton, vice chairwoman and chief executive of RTI, said moving its top executives closer to a major airport would make it easier for executives to meet with customers around the world.
Delphi Packard Electric made similar remarks when it moved its executives from Warren to Streetsboro last year.
Don Taylor, operations manager of the local airport’s fuel handler and service provider, Winner Aviation, said he thinks there are probably many more companies that have moved from the area or chosen not to locate here because of airport considerations of this type.
When he asked Bowser whether anyone had specifically asked RTI about its airline needs in recent years, Bowser said no, though the company was probably part of a recent survey that asked such questions.
Akron-Canton success
Taylor said the Akron-Canton Airport was successful in attracting airlines by talking directly to companies and getting commitments from them on the amount of air travel they would use locally if it was available.
“We need to bring on a marketer to sit down with directors and CEOs of companies to market” the airport, said board member Thomas Petrarca. “It’s not going to get done until we take a proactive approach.”
Petrarca noted the airport has never had its own marketing employee, sometimes hiring private consultants. “We need someone in-house,” he added.
Bowser said he has always wanted to hire a marketing director, but the marketing budget has always been “next to zero” dating back to the early 1990s before he arrived.
Bowser said he will propose some method of paying the salary of such a person, whether it is from the airport’s own money or from somewhere outside.
He said he has been waiting for months for the Federal Aviation Administration to report which airports have been chosen to receive Small Community Air Service Development grants.
The airport’s $800,000 bid would allow it to offer flights three to five times per day on a 50- to 90-seat regional jets. That would connect local travelers to regional hubs such as Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Columbus or Cincinnati and help companies such as RTI, he said.
runyan@vindy.com