By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members have unanimously approved a contract with a company to assist the city in re-establishing commercial air service.
The city council on Tuesday considered a resolution to award a contract for $36,000, with possible additional performance bonuses, to Volaire Aviation Consulting Inc., a company based in Fishers, Ind.
After City Secretary Mari Acosta read the heading of the agenda item, Mayor Al Arreola called for a motion on the resolution. Councilman J.P. Sanchez made the motion to approve the resolution, with Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr. giving the second.
In an informational handout on the resolution in the council’s agenda packet, Airport Superintendent Juan Onofre wrote about how Volaire has already assisted the city and how he believes it will further enhance the city’s efforts to re-establish commercial air service to and from Del Rio International Airport.
“On Sept. 29, 2023, the city of Del Rio was awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation $1.2 million under the SCASD (Small Community Air Service Development) Program. The funding has to be used for a revenue guarantee and marketing to initiate and support new (air) service to the community. The city of Del Rio was the recipient of this grant in 2004 and 2013 and applied but was not selected in 2012.
“Volaire Aviation Consulting assisted the city with the writing of the 2023 SCASD grant and has made contact with potential servers to re-establish commercial air service. The (city’s initial) agreement with Volaire expired in February and had a retainer fee of $4,400 for 12 months of service,” Onofre wrote.
Onofre also gave a short history of recent commercial air service to the Del Rio airport.
“From 2005 to 2013, Continental Airlines (later merged with United Airlines) served Del Rio and transported 223,428 passengers, with an average of 2,272 passengers per month. From 2018 to 2022, American Airlines carried 159, 820 passengers with an average of 2,840 passengers per month, including months of Covid restrictions,” the airport superintendent wrote.
Onofre added, “A professionally crafted business case document with solid statistical and route data, along with community support, is essential for successful airline recruitment. The consulting firm, Volaire, has established connections in the aviation industry and has access to airline (route) planners and executives of the main airlines.
“The agreement with Volaire would cover the development of a comprehensive air service business case document for delivery and presentation to airlines like United, SkyWest, Southern, JSX, Contour, etc. (The agreement) includes the continuous update of the business case document for different airlines or new economic travel data for 12 months and the ongoing recruitment of air service options with direct contact with targeted airlines planners and executives, all virtual or headquarters site meetings with carriers and a community visit for meetings with airport administration, elected officials and community stakeholders,” Onofre wrote.
He noted the city will pay Volaire $36,000 for airline recruitment activities over the next 12 months under the new contract.
Onofre also noted under the new contract “a performance bonus is contemplated” if new air service is obtained.
The performance bonus will be $5,000 for single-engine aircraft service to a large or medium airline hub airport, $10,000 for twin turboprop service, $15,000 for regional jet service point-to-point to major cities like Austin or Dallas, $20,000 for regional jet service with ticket and bag agreement to a network carrier hub and $25,000 for a network carrier “branded and coded” regional jet service to a carrier hub.
The city council passed the resolution unanimously without discussion or questions.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
