La Crosse Regional Airport passengers count drops to lowest non-pandemic number, looks at fees and ground transportation

Here’s a visual.

This is how many people in 2022 did NOT board on an airplane in
La Crosse compared to 2019. Enplanements are down 20,000.

The Airport leadership is looking at funding options.

The number of people getting on commercial, public airplanes in La Crosse is down by at least 5,000 passengers from last year and 20,000 people from its peak years just before the pandemic. The decline of passengers ripples through vendors at the airport. A report by the La Crosse Regional Airport shows losses in car rentals, sales at the restaurant & shop, and beyond. When comparing September 2021 (which was still a lower-than-average year for passengers) to September of 2022:

• Car rentals: -36%
• Colgan Sales (charters): -34%
• Fuel Sales: -11%
• Restaurant/Shop: -30%
• Parking: -1%

Finding Other Income

At the La Crosse Board of Aviation meeting on November 14, La Crosse Regional Airport Director Ian Turner presented a few options to combat this significant passenger decline and the need for consultants to help develop new strategies for income. 

In a letter to Aviation Board Chair & Council member Andrea Richmond, Turner states, “The aviation industry continues to experience significant change as it has over the past three years. This includes adjustments to demand for aviation services, impacts on revenues, increasing costs, and uncertainty related to the inflationary effects of the overall economy.” He recommended hiring, and the Board unanimously approved, engaging two consulting firms that would evaluate the current fees for passengers, hangars, car-rentals as well as federal programs that may be available. This assessment is free, with consulting firms making recommendations to Turner. Turn and the aviation board would evaluate the cost-benefit, identify how to pay for them, and possibly hire the consulting firms to implement the changes.

A second source of revenue could be through an amended agreement with a ground transportation company that would use vans to take La Crosse-based passenger to and from the Minneapolis Airport. Turner estimates the agreement would generate about $26,572 a year for the airport. 

Details on both of these agreements follow.

Airport Fees Agreement

The Board approved and sent to the City Council for approval a five-year contract with Leibowitz & Horton Airport Management Consultants and another with Crawford, Murphy & Tilly. Both would be signed in December 2022. The contracts would evaluate:

• the airport rates and charges
• passenger charges
• customer facility charges
• car rental lease agreements
• benefit-cost analyses
• ground, hangar, and commercial operator lease agreements
• airline lease development and negotiation
• Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) program development and implementation
• Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program development and implementation, and
• US Dept. of Transportation Title VI Program compliance

The engagement letter, if agreed to, would become a part of this contract, which would run from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2027.

Company Looks to provide bus service from La Crosse Airport to the Minneapolis Airport

Landline Company anticipates twice a day trips between La Crosse and Minneapolis. One document presented to the Board states the company will operate as a service for Sun Country, however the company indicated they may service other airlines. The ground service agreement reviewed by the Aviation Board would begin in December 2022 with passengers starting in La Crosse only (round-trip) – no one-way trips to Minneapolis and for no other purpose than airline travel.

This is technically an amendment to an existing agreement for Landline. The company had a previous agreement with the airport that ran from April 2021 until September. They ended the service as they changed their business model. The group will now offer a Sprinter-style van that can carry 13 passengers, with “plans to upgrade to a 40-passenger motor coach.” 

The agreement is for one year.