by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
It hasn’t been all bad news for the airport industry lately.
Jacksonville International Airport (JIA) may not reach the six million passenger visits it did last year and parking revenues may also be down, but concessions are up and Internet company Google has agreed to sponsor the airport’s free Wi-Fi service available to travelers.
“We have improved the security process since 9/11 and people are starting to experience some free time between the time they get through security and the time they have to get on the plane,” said Michael Stewart, director of external affairs for the Aviation Authority. “The renovations to concourses A and C have also provided more vendors for travelers to shop at.”
Stewart spoke to members of the local media at JAA’s annual media day event at JIA in an effort to improve communication between the Authority and the media, and also provided some updates on some JAA business.
Some of that new business discussed at the event will help travelers pass some of that free time on the Internet. JIA is one of over 40 airports that Google will be providing complimentary Wi-Fi to as part of a gift to make holiday travel a little more enjoyable. From Nov. 10-Jan. 15, travelers will be able to surf the Web at most local airports across the country with the help of Google. JIA was paying for the service and offering it free to travelers, but Google’s sponsorship will allow the airport to save some money in that area.
“A recent study conducted by the Wi-Fi Alliance reported that 50 percent of business travelers take redeye flights in order to be ‘reachable’ during business hours and an overwhelming 82 percent said that being connected through Wi-Fi would help solve that problem,” said Colleen Wickwire, a spokesperson for Google. “As another way to pass on the spirit of the season, once they log on to participating networks, travelers can make a donation to ‘Engineers Without Boarders,’ the ‘One Economy Corporation’ or the ‘Climate Savers Computing Initiative.’”
Google will match the donations made across all the networks up to $250,000, and the airport network that generates the highest amount per passenger by Jan. 1 will receive $15,000 to donate to the local charity of their choice.
Another gift JAA wouldn’t mind having in their stocking before Christmas would be a license from the Federal Aviation Administration to be able to operate Cecil Field as a commercial horizontal launch facility for spacecraft.
“Our license is more imminent than it was before,” said Bob Simpson, senior director of Cecil Field for JAA. “That is the first big step to getting the airport and its approach and arrival corridors licensed.”
As JAA has pursued the spaceport for Cecil Field, organizers noticed that Jacksonville has an edge over many of the other facilities available.
“The other facilities are, literally, out in the middle of nowhere,” said Stewart. “We can offer accessibility to the City of Jacksonville.”
JAA is proposing to operate a spaceport at the Westside facility that could handle launching 52 horizontal, reusable launch vehicles a year. JAA officials met with Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp Monday at Cecil Commerce Center. Kottkamp serves as the chairman of the board of “Space Florida,” an organization created to strengthen Florida’s position as the global leader in aerospace research, investment, exploration and commerce.
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