Melbourne, Fla., happens to be too small and too near Orlando to
command the interest of the mega airlines. So to attract attention,
airport authorities have been staging a mystery-caller promotion
offering area agents free parking passes and the chance to win
$1,000 in a monthly drawing.
To qualify, retailers must begin by quoting fares and schedules
out of Melbourne. If they do, they get a packet of three-day
parking passes for their or their clients' use, and the chance to
win the $1,000 monthly lottery.
It's a nice reward for the 80 agencies that make up the
marketing area. Struggling to survive after the airline commission
caps and cuts, retailers at least get an opportunity to earn some
money. The airport is constructively promoting itself, while
calling attention to its plight.
***
But, of course, more often that not, it's cheaper for Melbourne
passengers to drive 75 miles to Orlando, or 130 miles to Tampa,
both of which are served by Southwest Airlines. Melbourne, of
course, is not alone among Florida airports or hundreds of others
in the country in suffering from this neglect.
Around the immediate area, there's Daytona Beach (at 56 miles,
also too close to Orlando), Gainesville (73 miles to Jacksonville
and 112 miles to Orlando) and Sarasota (Sarasota-Bradenton), which
loses passengers to Tampa (57 miles away) and Orlando (129
miles).
The smaller cities have wonderful airports and a shortage of
airlines. Any one of them would welcome more service, particularly
from low-fare carrier Southwest. It's Southwest fares, for example,
that made it possible at one point last year to travel from Tampa
out to Ontario County airport for $675 less than from Sarasota or
for $155.50 less to Chicago from Tampa than from Sarasota.
That's why, try as hard as these airports do to promote
themselves, and agents to promote them, they just cannot win,
unless a Southwest comes in. The irony is that for retailers to win
the Melbourne lottery, they must promote the only big airline that
serves the field, Delta -- the carrier that imposed the caps and
promotes the higher fares.