INDIANAPOLIS–Some of the state’s airports are getting money from the Federal Aviation Administration. The grants may help. But, airline business is at four percent of what it normally is and that may mean it will take a while for it to get back to normal.
“We only have about four and a half percent of our passengers going through the terminal. So, in other words it seems like a ghost town,” said Mario Rodriguez, executive director of the Indianapolis Airport Authority, talking to Inside Indiana Business.
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He said that customers should be aware that most aircraft are grounded and flight crews are spread out all over the country, with many of them furloughed.
“So, it’ll take time for that to catch up with the necessity,” he said. “If the necessity and the demand all of the sudden comes back, which may not be that realistic, the capacity will not be there.”
He said the airlines will take time to catch up, just like every other business.
To help with lost revenues generated by airports to help them operate, the FAA has granted $96 million to 65 airports in the state.
“These federal dollars that are coming in are gonna be very helpful, but I don’t want anybody to get the impression that it’s a windfall,” he said. Rodriguez said, as in the case with Indianapolis International Airport, it takes a lot of money to operate an airport.
“We generate our own dollars through fees for airlines, fees for concessionaires, parking, and everything else, which those revenues are non-existent right now.”
One part of the Indianapolis airport that is doing well id the FedEx hub.
“FedEx is in good shape. While their ground has increased, we understand that their air has decreased a little bit. Not much,” said Rodriguez. “Of all the winners in this really really horrible tragedy, that sort of on-demand delivery system is probably one of the winners in this whole thing: FedEx, UPS.”
