STATEMENT
OF BRUCE E. CARTER A.A.E
DIRECTOR OF AVIATION
QUAD CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
before the
JOINT COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENTAL
MANAGEMENT RESTRUCTURING AND THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
THE HEARING ENTITLED “HAS AIRPORT SECURITY
IMPROVED”
NOVEMBER 14, 2001 10:30 A.M.
Good morning Chairman Lieberman, Senator
Thompson, Senator Durbin, Senator Voinovich and
distinguished members of the Committee.
I want to thank you for the opportunity to
testify today on the concerns of aviation
security at small hub airports.
The Quad City International Airport serves the
citizens of Western Illinois and Eastern Iowa and
has a catchment area of 2.5 million people within
100 miles. We have access to seven different hubs
by five different air carriers. Our
aircraft mix varies from Boeing 717’s to
Beechcraft 1900’s. We have been one of
the fastest growing airports in the country with
a 48% growth over the past five years. One
of the reasons for this rapid growth is the air
service provided by AirTran airways to its
Atlanta hub. They have provided our
passengers with competitive air fares and, in
turn, our other air carriers stay competitive
with them. In fact, all of our air carriers
have experienced growth. We are a small hub
airport and were on track to enplane 400,000
passengers for 2001 until the tragic events of
September 11th occurred. Traffic for
September 2001 was down 34%, and we experienced a
23% decrease in passengers for October. As
of today, we have 20% fewer seats available and
have 15% fewer flights daily compared to the
September 1st schedule. Our
airfares continue to be very competitive and I
have noticed a gradual increase in the number of
passengers on our airline flights.
What have the passenger declines done to our
operating revenue for the airport? Our
annual budget for 2001 is $7,000,000. We
are experiencing a 20% decline in parking lot
revenue, which equates to an annualized loss of $300,000,
and we are experiencing a 40% decline in rental
car activity. The rental car agencies,
however, guarantee a monthly minimum which could
adversely affect their existence. We have
also experienced a 15% loss in landed weight that
effects our landing fee revenue. We are
trying to find creative ways to further cut
expenses and could see layoffs in the near future.
We just opened up our new $18 million terminal
concourse expansion and are not hiring the needed
building maintenance and custodial personnel.
This puts added pressure and stress on our
existing staff.
What changes have we seen in airport security and
what do we expect those costs to be if the FAA
requirements continue? Before we were able to
open our airport on September 13th, we had to tow
148 vehicles from our short term and long term
parking lot and we cut our rental car ready lot
in half to abide by the 300-foot rule implemented
by the FAA. We then had to post two
employees at the airport terminal curb to insure
that no cars were left unattended. We hired
a contract employee for 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week at a cost of $300 per day, or $109,000 per
year. In order to open our much needed
short term parking lot, we hired another contract
employee for a 12-hour shift at a cost of $204
per day, or $63,648 per year. Our public safety
department and airport staff accumulated $11,000
in overtime for a six-week period, and if we
continue at this pace, it will result in over $95,000
in overtime. And that is assuming
there will be no more security requirements which
require additional manpower.
In late September, the National Guard was
assigned to our airport and are only allowed to
be present at the security checkpoint. It greatly
disturbs me that our request for greater
flexibility was denied. I cannot stress
enough the need to allow our National Guard
presence at locations other than the screening
checkpoint, and many small hubs feel the same way.
As of today, we have not been able to expand the
duties of the guard at our airport. However,
President Bush outlined on Friday the need for
more flexibility by the National Guard troops and
that is what airports have been wanting for the
past eight weeks. I hope we see additional troops
before I get back to work tomorrow.
Additionally, the FAA required the airport
operator to close all gates to the secured area (SIDA)
unless the gates were monitored or a procedure
was put in place to inspect each vehicle wanting
access to the SIDA. The airport has a
computer controlled access system that makes the
gate much more secure than a lock and key system
and this should be an accepted procedure.
At our airport, the airlines have followed all of
the FAA directives which require only ticketed
passengers beyond the screening checkpoint, the
constant wanding of passengers at the gate before
boarding, having an airline person at the
screening checkpoint, the hand checking of bags
of a selectee, and the showing of a picture id
multiple times.
I am concerned with the discussions that are
taking place that will continue to cost airports
more money without additional revenue streams to
offset these added expenses. As the cost
per passenger increases at smaller airports, the
airlines will reconsider their yield potential
and profit margin, and I am concerned that they
could eliminate service to many communities.
There are 437 primary airports in the United
States. Primary airports are defined as
having scheduled air service and enplaning over
10,000 passengers per year. 50% of these
primary airports enplane less than 100,000
passengers. Smaller airports have much
smaller staffs and one small requirement, such as
inspecting vehicles, has a much greater impact
and financial burden than on larger airports.
Requiring all airports to have explosive
detection equipment installed for checked luggage
will have significant operational and financial
impacts, especially at smaller to mid-size
airports. Who will pay these initial and
ongoing costs and who will be responsible? If
the cost of the equipment is $1 million, it would
not be unreasonable to expect
The annual maintenance costs to be at 10% or $100,000
per year. What happens if the equipment
breaks down and there is no backup? Congressional
leaders need to have answers for these questions,
and we could talk for hours on other important
security issues that need to be considered.
I would like to briefly discuss the personnel
that we have at our screening checkpoints. I
feel our small hub airport has the same problems
as larger airports in hiring, replacing and
keeping personnel on the job. If the
employees were paid a better wage and a benefit
package, would this reduce turnover and give us a
better product? Does a $20 an hour employee
do a better job than a minimum wage employee?
We need to have these questions answered before
we decide on screening point jurisdiction. Constant
turnover causes problems in any type of business!
We are fortunate to have the newest, state of the
art x-ray equipment at our airport and it has
worked flawlessly since it’s purchase a year
ago.
I feel the FAA Civil Aviation Security
personnel need to do a better job of
communicating with the operators of our Nation’s
airports. It is not unreasonable to have
airport managers and staff invited to regional
headquarters to discuss the concerns of airport
security. It is a way to get questions
answered in a timely manner and it helps to know
what other airports are going through to enhance
security. Communication is the key to
success and it is our job to encourage people to
get back into the Nation’s skies. The
airlines are doing their job in providing very
reasonable fares and making the needed safety
improvements to their aircraft. The FAA and
airports need to do whatever it takes to provide
the safest environment for all citizens that
choose to fly. I hope members of this
committee and other members of congress will work
to ensure that airports throughout the country
receive the reimbursement they need to comply
with the new security initiatives imposed by the
FAA.
I would especially like to thank Senator Durbin
for asking me to testify today. Senator Durbin
has been a great supporter of our airports in
Illinois, and I have enjoyed my ten-year
relationship with him. His staff, especially Mr.
Pat Souders, has always been available to assist
our airport with aviation concerns. Thank you for
the opportunity of letting me share my thoughts
with you today. I would be pleased to try and
answer any questions that you might have.
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