Oil spill mucks up another opportunity

The remnants of the BP oil spill have dealt another blow to the Gulf Coast of Florida.

The Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport took the hit this time, in the form of a rejection from Condor Air, the German-based airline airport officials and local business leaders had wooed since 2008. The airline, in a Sept. 1 letter to the airport, says it has “major concerns that over the next few months we'll experience an [oil spill] aftermath, thus increasing the financial risk of our flights.”

Condor had considered launching two weekly nonstop flights from Frankfurt to Sarasota-Bradenton, which could have brought at least 28,000 people a year to the region, officials estimated. Airport chief executive Rick Piccolo chose to focus on the positive points of the rejection. “We certainly would have liked to have been successful, but we didn't lose to someone else,” Piccolo tells Coffee Talk. “We got a high profile in the international aviation community as a viable option.”

Piccolo also pointed out Condor officials called the incentive-laden recruitment effort an “incomparable package.”

Nonetheless, Condor cited more than the spill in its rejection letter. It thought Sarasota-Bradenton, with more leisure passengers than business travelers, could prove to be a low-yield spot over the long-term. The airline, in its letter, also mentioned it was worried about the size and scope of the airport's customs and other support operations, Piccolo says.

The customs concerns, at least, weren't a surprise.

In April, Coffee Talk reported the airport might have to pay more than $1 million in costs and fees to hire a team of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. The airport would no longer be able to borrow the officers from Tampa if it landed the airline, Piccolo was told by federal officials.