RTA exec gives update on $500k RDU international flight enticement fund
(Triangle Business Journal – April 7, 2015)
Joe Milazzo, executive director for the Regional Transportation Alliance, says his organization is almost halfway to the $500,000 goal to bring another international flight to RDU. “Let’s call it an encouragement package,” he says, referring to the pledges, both in cash and services local businesses have already ponied up for the effort.
So far, more than $168,000 worth of in-kind services have been committed along with more than $76,000 in cash, though not all of it is in hand, he says. Right now, the cash is in an escrow, where it will likely sit for some time.
Milazzo reiterates what we’ve heard directly from airlines: Most 2015 plans are set. “It’s very unlikely,” he says, when asked if a new international flight will happen this year.
So, Milazzo says he and his team have zeroed in on 2016 as the year they hope to entice another player to launch an international flight from RDU.
Until an airliner steps up, uses for the cash and services being compiled for incentives are purely speculative, Milazzo says.
Much of the commitments come in the form of sponsorships. If, say, a new airline picks Raleigh for its flight to Frankfurt, that airline would receive free branded sponsorship at an event from one of the donors, such as the kind of functions put on by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. They might receive a free advertising campaign, focused solely on that Frankfurt flight, courtesy of a North Carolina company.
Uses for the cash would likely be at the airline’s discretion, he says.
The regional investment fund will supplement the RDU Airport Authority’s $500,000 commitment to recruiting and marketing international air service.
And Milazzo says it’s worth the cash, pointing to numbers that show each new transatlantic flight would generate $25 million in annual net regional economic spending and increase gross domestic product by $1.4 billion over 25 years.
Supporters (information provided by RTA)
Project Investors
- Cary Chamber of Commerce
- Cisco Systems, Inc. *
- Duke Energy *
- Duke University *
- First Citizens Bank *
- Forge Communications
- Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
- Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau *
- IBM Corporation *
- Morrisville Chamber of Commerce
- Quintiles *
- Red Hat, Inc. *
- Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina *
- UNC / Rex Healthcare
- Wells Fargo
Minimum Project investment levels: $500 to $2,500 annually with three-year commitment
* Three-year Project investors of $1,000 or more per year annually denoted with (*)
* Three-year Project investors of $2,500 or more annually shown in bold