ABOUT & WHY

“A land of opportunity...” is how the Alabama Department of Commerce website describes the Yellowhammer state, but the city of Mobile, Alabama continues to be a nucleus of missed opportunities and whenever it comes to the people's choice, sadly, Mobile is everyone’s second options. In many cases, Mobile has consistently washed-up as the bridesmaid or runner-up when it comes to locals and foreigners deciding on what, when, and where. Even worse, the City of Mobile isn’t even runner-up when it comes to certain things like economic growth, it’s completely stagnant - and anything stagnant begins to stink.

Even though there are many economic issues facing the City of Mobile, Alabama - a current initiative that needs city-wide attention is the petitioning for our Mayor (Sandy Stimpson) and the Mobile Airport Authority (MAA) to please move the Mobile Regional Airport (MOB) operations from Bates Field to Brookley Field and/or initiate an independent feasibility study of such measure.

Please, to the powers that be, let us not remain on the back end of possibilities and opportunities. At what point do we begin to make the big investment, take the long-term risk, and the act that places our city on a 'whole notha level’?

WHO

Who connects with the City of Mobile, but sends their travel business to Pensacola and Gulfport-Biloxi International Airports for various reasons stated?

●      Mobile Bay Convention attendees and guests.

●      Seamen - who work on the cargo ships that dock at the Port of Mobile such as Filipinos, Europeans, Vietnamese, Russians, and several other foreign groups. 

●      Carnival Cruise Ship passengers. Carnival also uses the Mobile airport to transport crew members home after a cruise is complete and flies in new crew members to begin work.

●      Business travelers.  A heavy volume of business travelers; usually on Sundays and Mondays the local business people are flying out and at the same time business people from other parts of the country are flying in. Then again on Thursdays and Fridays the locals fly back into Mobile while the business travelers who are not local to Mobile are gearing up to fly back home.

●      Airbus executives and other employees traveling for business or those who are being flown to/from training. 

●      International and study abroad passengers. 

●      Students from local colleges traveling home for holidays, spring break, and summer break.

●      Visiting Families and Friends

These, listed above, are just a few examples of the types of travelers that come to the City of Mobile, but not necessarily through the Mobile Regional Airport.

Each year Mobile sees a large number of tennis players who come here to compete. There are Pro Golf players coming to our City of Mobile for competitions as well i.e. National Football League (NFL) and College Football coaches and scouts. Oh, I almost forgot about Senior Bowl players, Dollar General Bowl players, and those alike.

“I can only imagine how much money the City of Mobile and the Mobile Airport Authority are losing in sales and tax revenue to our neighboring airports, Pensacola International Airport (PNS) and Gulfport–Biloxi International Airport (GPT). Here, at Mobile Regional Airport, you have an airport running at half capacity or maybe even less by now and at Brookley Field (Mobile Downtown Airport), you have another facility being used at some capacity less than full. Without a public passenger terminal, Brookley has never been able to fully use its resources in combination with its adjacent rail, truck and deep water capabilities.” - Ted Burnett

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

Okay, so you say ‘yeah, we all know who flies in and out of the City of Mobile, but how do we know they are using our neighboring airports?’--Well, numbers do not lie. The following data was collected from the FAA concerning the number of boarded passengers.

Calendar Year 2007-2015 Enplanements - Passenger (enplanement) and cargo data is extracted from the Air Carrier Activity Information System (ACAIS), a database that contains revenue passenger boarding and all-cargo data. The database supports the FAA's Airport Improvement Program (AIP) apportionment formula calculations.

https://postimg.org/image/e96glriy1/

Reviewing the air passenger data for all three airports corroborates what many of us Mobilians already suspected - that most Mobile, AL area residents (including those in Baldwin County and those living on the Eastern Shore) are choosing to travel to Gulfport-Biloxi and/or to Pensacola to take flight.

Given Mobile’s MSA (metropolitan statistical area) the Mobile Regional Airport statistically proves to be underutilized as our own are sleeping with the enemy – more evidence that the current location of our airport is not at highest and best use. Though why are they choosing our neighboring airports instead of the Mobile Regional Airport? Well, let me count the ways…

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Let’s kick things off with, one some would consider, the top reason many choose to fly around us when coming to our local City of Mobile.

The current location of the Mobile Regional Airport (MOB) is approximately 8 miles west of I-65 and approximately 10 miles north of I-10, from the Tillman’s Corner exit. Both take approximately 25 to 35 minutes driving time to reach the Mobile Regional Airport, depending on traffic conditions and weather conditions (which are rarely favorable).

They choose PNS and GPT because it is seemingly much more convenient to navigate to than driving madly to the far end of West Mobile, down hectic and congested Airport Blvd. to reach the Mobile Regional Airport (MOB).

With numerous school zones, consistent traffic jams, and the galore of traffic lights - even from I-10 - there is no stress-free approach to get to the Mobile Regional Airport - unless you live in the west-side part of town. Oh my traffic lights! From I-65 to the Mobile Regional Airport, there are approximately 30 traffic lights and the average speed limit is 45mph. From the Tillman’s Corner exit (off of I-10), there are roughly 11 to 15 traffic lights, depending on which route is taken. The speed limit along this route is 40mph, for the majority of the drive. There are a few locations where the speed limit jumps up to 45mph.

Quite a few major and other well performing airports are located near an interstate or major highway with no more than about a 5 - 15 minute drive to the airport from that interstate and/or highway.

When non-local visitors fly into the Mobile Regional Airport, unfortunately they have to navigate residential roads. Visitor and resident reviews value that reaching downtown, midtown, and similar destinations is a horrible experience, coming from the Mobile Regional Airport.

Because of this, passengers are stressed before they even step foot outside of their car onto the Mobile Regional Airport grounds and yet, they still have to deal with what comes next … another reason travelers do not chose MOB, first.

WHAT DOES MOBILE REGIONAL AIRPORT HAVE TO OFFER?

Well, this is an easy one to answer, not much! On top of everything else, it's’ a no-brainer as to why we are over-looked by passengers flying to Mobile.

The only amenity or perk some passengers flying out of our airport feel is of any value is our Airport’s Valet Parking.

Other benefits/services our inconveniently located airport does not offer:

●      No sky clubs - None of the carries that service our airport have any sort of customer lounge (in-part due to low passenger counts). The Mobile Regional Airport itself offers an “Executive Club”, but it’s only a local club offered by the Mobile Airport and passengers (especially frequent fliers) would rather use their airline’s club.

●      No covered parking (parking garage) - Here, at the Mobile Regional Airport when passengers park their cars and it’s pouring rain, they get soaked! Yes, Umbrellas do help, but not when you’re trying to carry luggage all at the same time. The airport has an extended golf cart that holds roughly six people, but who’s going to stand in the rain waiting for a golf cart?

●      No curbside check-in - Meaning passengers can’t check their bags in at the curb, go park, and then just go straight to their gate (or vise versa).

●      Lack of charging stations and electrical outlets - At the gatehouse where passengers wait to board their flight, there is a very small supply of charging ports for travelers. I am not sure if the Mobile Airport Authority received the memo or not, but In today’s modern world, many passengers are constantly using and needing to charge their cell phones, ipads, kindles, laptops, and other electronics. Many people use USB charging ports instead of the two or three pronged plugs as well.

●      None to few first class seats - Since Mobile Regional Airport mainly operates CRJ & ERJ aircrafts (50 +/- seat planes), there are none to very few options for first class seats (these type aircrafts only provide coach seats). Thus, when travelers purchase their airfare (especially groups like Pro Golfers, Tennis players, Airbus, NFL coaches, College Football coaches, scouts, and frequent fliers), they look for first class seats. This drives a lot of these groups to fly into Pensacola and Gulfport, instead. 

●      No heated/cooled Jet-Bridge - The Jet Bridges that the passengers’ walk-through to get on and off of the plane does not have A/C too cool down the jet bridge. Mobile is a hot southern city; passengers are forced to walk through a blazing hot metal bridge from the plane to the terminal and the terminal to the plane. Also, since most flights at the Mobile Regional Airport require passengers to valet tag their carry-on bags, they are forced to stay inside the scorching hot metal jet bridge until their carry-on bag is returned to them. The average wait time for is about 5- 10 minutes. TSA security procedures don’t allow for reentry into the jet bridge once a passenger has come out, this is why passengers have to stay inside the jet bridge and wait for their bags. To top it off, the jet bridge smells and they are rusting away. Airports around the globe have started switching or have already switched to jet bridges that utilize A/C for the comfort of passengers.

 MOBILE AIRPORT AUTHORITY (MAA)

It has been stated that a few executives and board members of the MAA do not find the move of Mobile Regional Airport operations beneficial, at all. I wonder why that is? As much as I hate to do so, with all of the listed and many unlisted negatives (unlisted for security and private reasons), I have to question the overall leadership of the Mobile Airport Authority and their judgment call on not moving MOB to Brookley field.

For me, this is partially due to the fact that the Mobile Regional Airport is in poor condition and again, lacks so many incentives and benefits for the flying community.

A few examples:

Anytime it rains over the airport, the rainwater literally leaks down into the airport right on and in front of passengers. You can watch the water as it rolls down the concrete columns and soaked right into the carpet. 

Near all of the terminal gates (past the security checkpoint) you may notice that the ceiling is also, literally, falling apart. There are many places where the ceiling has not yet been repaired (so far a 2 year duration) and has turned discolored. Other places you will notice maintenance poorly covered-up places with plaster.

Which is why as the next rainstorm rolls through, the plaster breaks apart and falls to the floor (luckily it hasn’t fallen open a passenger, yet). 

The runway is in need of repair as well.  On a rare occasion when the airplanes land and the pilots turn on the reverse thrust to help slow down the plane, it throws small to mid-sized pieces of rocks onto the wings of the aircraft. Good lord, talk about safety! No, this is not all the time, but all it takes is one rare occasion to cause some type of possibly fatal accident.

The perimeter fence that stretches around the airport is very weak and is falling down. It’s rusting away in some parts and the fence doesn’t have a motion detection security feature (as most airport do).

For example, most airports have a cable that is attached to the fence all the way around the entire airport. When the fence is shaken at a certain force an alarm is sent to the airport operation center and police are sent out to that section of fence to determine the threat, such as someone trying to climb the fence.

The employee parking area is wide-open to the public and passenger who fly out of Mobile Regional Airport know they can park their car in the employee lot for weeks at a time - there’s no telling how much lost revenue there is due to the employee parking lot being used as a regular parking lot for travelers.

My favorite parts, near the passenger gates are burgundy desks that use to be a phone booth area. The phones were removed many years ago and now the booth has more of a desk appearance. Though there are phone books still attached to these desks (from back when it was a phone booth) which all have a published date of 2008, (almost 9 years ago). Really MAA?

Such a decision to move the Mobile Regional Airport would start with the MAA. Again, so far their decision has been not to. Though I feel some type of way about their decisions as of lately, I’d at least like an explanation.

Moving the Mobile Regional Airport would cause a domino effect. A more welcoming structure, clean environment, a better more convenient location and increased passenger incentives/benefits would lead to increased passenger counts. Increased passenger counts and lower landing fees (and maybe more productive negotiations) would lead to a low cost carrier entering our city. This would then lead to competitive pricing, which then leads to a decrease in airfare in and out of our airport. This ultimately leads to a booming economy, increased local and business sales tax, sales revenues, and enplanements engagement in the downtown Mobile community.

MOVE MOBILE FORWARD

About two or three years ago, the Mobile Regional Airport had bright colorful lights added to the outside of the airport along with some palm trees. They look nice at night, but the majority of the airport’s traffic is during the day. Rumor has it these two projects cost well over $1 million. Meanwhile, the customer experience is dead. For years prior, customers who use the Mobile Regional Airport have been asking over and over and over again for a few key benefits and incentives. The least MAA could do is keep the building in shape and bring the safety and security of all up to par.

After reading all of this, do you not wonder how the current airport is even staying in business? It may not be for much longer. Loyal locals have switched or are making the switch to Pensacola and Gulfport. Mobile airport is losing business to its neighboring cities; most mobilians have given up on any chance of change for the Mobile Regional Airport and even for the City of Mobile.

Pensacola and Gulfport-Biloxi both offer covered parking, larger airplanes, faster TSA lines, way more amenities (Pensacola airport has a Chic-fil-a) and the main attraction is location, location, location; they are both very convenient as far as access goes. 

Nothing about our current airport is up-to-date, easy, convenient, and it lacks everything a proper airport should have.

A city is only as good as its air service!  Find me a city that is prosperous, but has little to no air service - it won’t happen.  If Mobile wants to grow and truly help the economy of this city grow, we have to give a lot more attention to our airport and its air service. The Pensacola airport used to be similar to the Mobile airport, but then Mayor Ashton Hayward took over and completely transformed things in regards to the airport. Now they have a Hyatt Place hotel in front of the airport, added more parking, updated the interior of the airport, brought in local shops, Southwest started service, Silver Airways started service, Delta started bringing in 757’s, and a lot more positive changes happened. 

Give your airport and air service attention and the economy will grow, business will pick up, airlines will probably start adding more service and larger seat capacity planes, and other low-cost carriers may actually be willing to come to Mobile. The starting key to all of this I believe is location and Brookley offers the perfect location. It may be high time we start looking at who’s running our Airport’s operations as well. It’s time for new beginnings in Mobile.

Let's make this move and truly start to move Mobile Forward! 

BREAK DOWN: THE BENEFITS OF THE MOVE

There are a tremendous amount of benefits that come along with making the move to Brookley. Below, I have only listed a few.

●      Immediate access to I-10 East and West (4 lanes already each direction)

●      Immediate access to I-65 (3 lanes already each direction)

●      Next to Downtown, museums, USS Alabama Battleship

●      Closer to hotels on I-65 which may allow for these hotels to start offering hotel shuttle service

●      Reduced commute to the Cruise Terminal. Adding a lot of convenience and maybe even shuttle service. Also benefiting the cruise ship’s frequent traveling employees.

●      Airbus and Austal will be next door. This will greatly benefit the businessmen and women of Airbus and Austal and also its’ frequent traveling employees.

●      Keeping flying passengers off of local residential roads.

●      Immediate access to the Port of Mobile, allowing for easy transfer of cargo ship crews to the airport

●      An up-to-date facility w/better amenity to compete with Pensacola and Gulfport.

●      A parking garage.

●      May allow for airlines to start investing in Mobile and the service they provide to our airport as they do at other outstations.

●      A move will bring locals back to our airport instead of them flying out of Pensacola, Gulfport, and even New Orleans.

●      Currently the Mobile Airport Authority (MAA) has to keep up with two airport locations, Brookley Field and Mobile Regional Airport.  Surely Mobile and the MAA could save money by only having to operate one airport location. Also, the current location is a money pit!

Mobile Regional Airport will surely profit from a move to Brookley Field. The cost at first will be a hit, but with all the foreseen and unforeseen benefits of this move, the operation and the costs associated with this initiative will pay for itself.

 Travel Times Compared

Let’s take a look at travel times to the current Mobile Regional Airport and compare them to travel times to the Brookley Field location. I will be comparing Gulfport and Pensacola because they are competitors. When people are looking to purchase airfare, many considerations go into the decision of that, like how long is it going to take me to get to the airport.

*Driving distances and times are estimated by Google Maps. *

To/ From Gulfport Airport

Currently: 67 miles and 1 hour and 10 minutes driving (using residential roads)

Brookley:  69 miles and 1 hour and 4 minutes driving/ reduced by 6 minutes (all interstate)

To/From Pensacola Airport

Currently: 72 miles and 1 hour and 24 minutes driving

Brookley: 60 miles and 58 minutes driving/ reduced by 12 miles and 26 minutes

To/From Cruise Terminal

Currently: 17 miles and 31 minutes driving

Brookley: 4 miles and 6 minutes driving/ reduced by 13 miles and 25 minutes

To/ From I-65 at Airport Blvd

Currently: 8 miles and 25 minutes

Brookley: 7.5 miles and 11 minutes (half a mile less and reduced by 14 minutes) 

Wait, I forgot about Baldwin County, but do I really need to list those numbers for you. With just these 4 examples, it’s easy to see why the current location is a hassle and more of deterrent to the flying community.

OUTLOOK: THE POTENTIAL FUTURE OF CURRENT MOBILE REGIONAL AIRPORT

Currently, the Mobile Regional Airport is ran by the MAA and is located within the city limits of Mobile. Depending on the ownership’s wishes and ideas, there are several ideas and possibilities for the current land if the move to Brookley Field were to happen.

A few ideas include, but are not limited to:

●      Allow for Airbus to expand out to West-Mobile?

●      Would Boeing have some ideas for the land?

●      Famous Attractions i.e. Dave&Busters?

●      Water Park?

ARGUMENTS

There are many arguments being had as to why we should just leave things the way they are.  Some of these arguments include:

●      Money - it may cost too much money that the City of Mobile doesn’t have

●      Noise - its’ been mentioned that residents of midtown and downtown enjoy the peace and quiet they have and do not want planes flying overhead

●      Traffic increase - some believe the tunnels will get worse and interstate traffic will be ridiculous

●      There’s no space for a passenger terminal at Brookley Field 

Okay, I’ll address the money issue first. Realistically, I can agree, it’s not a cheap project.  However, my experience has shown that in certain cases, Federal funds may cover a majority portion of the cost it would take to build a new passenger airport terminal and the state/city would have to provide the less of the remainder. So, when you have financial help covering majority of your expenses, what initially looked like a huge number doesn’t seem so scary anymore.

Now, as far as the noise goes, people say they don’t want aircraft noise over their houses. The problem with that concern is current flight plans show the small to large aircrafts that already fly low, over their homes (in midtown and downtown area), for takeoff and landing at Brookley Field. These planes flown over residence homes in that area are huge Airbuses, Boeings, and regional jets. So, honestly, I’m not too sure if the noise argument really is an argument at all.

●      Airbus 300F4-600 That FedEx uses at Brookley:

Length approx. =177 feet

Wing span approx. = 147feet

Used for Cargo

●      Airbus A321 being built by Airbus at Brookley:

Length approx. = 146 feet

Wing span approx. = 127 feet

Passenger load = 185 passengers typically

●      The CRJ-200 that mainly flies into Mobile Regional Airport

Length approx. = 88 feet

Wing Span approx. = 70 feet

Passenger load = 50 people

Traffic, I hate traffic! For the Mobile Regional Airport, traffic is already here and clogging up local roads in West Mobile. If anything, moving the Mobile Regional Airport to Brookley Field would help and improve the traffic conditions on Airport Blvd and keep the flying community off our residential roadways. At Michigan Ave. and I-10, there are 4 lanes going each way and there is already a good infrastructure in place to allow for easy access to Brookley Field as far as the interstate is concerned. I am not 100% sure how this will affect the congestion in the tunnel, but in all of this, if that is the only negative I am still for the move.

There’s No space at Brookley Field for a passenger terminal? Has anyone actually surveyed Brookley Field lately (with all the land that’s currently available and unused warehouses)? There’s space for a passenger terminal. Thank God for engineers! A few engineers are currently drawing up designs of a potential passenger terminal at Brookley Field now that will not involve tearing down homes are communities. Where there is a will there is a way! When you have a chance, take a look at the Orlando Airport and how it is engineered. Not everything with an airport has to be in one big-block to function.

Many will never admit it, but a passenger terminal at Brookley Field makes sense and is more than likely feasible! Nothing about the current MOB Airport location will improve, unless there is major renovation completed and an expressway is built to make it easier to get to (which possibly could costs more than just building a new and improved terminal. Besides the drastic boost to airport and local city revenue …

It’s time to invest in something that's worth the long-term risk. 

Prepared & Pioneered by: Mylan Dockery & Team | (877) 778-0182 | connect@mylanonline.com

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