Airport reduces car rental fees

Portsmouth’s Pease International Airport has agreed to reduce the fees it charges to car rental firms in order to use their airport’s facilities, following the collapse of Skybus Airlines. Skybus, which ceased operations in April 5^th, was the only major commercial carrier which offered regularly scheduled service from the airport, meaning that passenger traffic at this hub has now shrunk dramatically. Kim Hopper, the airport authority’s director, noted earlier this week that the hub has little choice but to reduce the fees charged to car rental firms, as the collapse of Skybus Airlines will essentially leave the local vehicle hire companies with little or no revenue. Budget, National and Alamo are the companies affected by the departure of Airbus, as they are the ones that currently rent space at the Portsmouth airport.

The airport normally takes in a total of $19,100 each year in space rental fees from car hire companies, but the dramatic shrinkage of the airport’s passenger traffic means that this will now be reduced to $7,640. The airport has also agreed to reduce the fee it charges for reserved parking slots from $11,520 to $3,456, while counter space fees will go from $9,495 to $7,140.

All of these reductions aim to convince Budget, National and Alamo not to pull out of the airport. There is, however, a real chance that they will do just this anyhow, since their contracts come up for renewal on August 31^st, 2008. The firms have an option to renew their contracts and if they choose this route, Portsmouth Airport will assume that they will have a combined annual revenue of only $18,000, down from $396,000 when Skybus still operated flights from the hub.

www.budget.com