New security makes airport retailers suffer

Sales down since December measures implemented

Some restaurants and retailers at Pearson airport have taken a hit to the bottom line after heightened security measures were implemented for U.S.-bound flights.

Most companies won’t say how much business has dropped, but spokespersons attribute the decline in sales to the new security measures, which give passengers no time to wander as they race to their flights.

“The passengers take so long in security, one or two hours,” said Maria Salvador, supervisor of the Brookstone shop inside the secure trans-border zone at Terminal 1.
“They hold the passengers upstairs. When they come, they come right on time, so they don’t have time to shop.”

The measures, including detailed baggage examinations, pat-downs and full-body scans, were imposed after a passenger on an Amsterdam-Detroit flight attempted to ignite explosives hidden in his underwear on Christmas Day as the aircraft flew over southern Ontario on its approach to Detroit.

Salvador said that on ordinary days last year, the store did between $600 and $1,000 in sales.

Last Friday sales were $400 and on Sunday dipped to just $170, she said.

“Before, the people had time, sometimes one hour or two hours to walk around and shop,” she said. “Now, they get mad because they don’t even have time for a coffee.”

Ian Wood, assistant general manager for HMS Host, which operates food and beverage spots in both terminals, said sales remain strong in the domestic and international areas.

“There’s no heightened screening for domestic departures, nor has there been for international departures,” Wood explained. “There has been no difference in business in either one of those areas.

“In the trans-border area, people are being delayed longer at security and they appear to have less of what is called ‘dwell time’ once they’ve gone through security.”


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Metro Airport slide is biggest dip in decades

Christina Rogers / The Detroit News

Passenger traffic at Detroit Metropolitan Airport dropped by 10.8 percent to 31 million passengers in 2009, the biggest slide in decades, airport officials said Thursday.

The decline is larger than the drop in traffic after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when the number of passengers decreased 6 percent between 2001 and 2002. It also is greater than a 2.4 percent slide in 2008, airport officials said.

The number of travelers flying internationally to and from Metro Airport was down 26 percent in 2009, while domestic passenger numbers decreased by 9 percent, according to preliminary data released by the Wayne County Airport Authority.

Airport officials attributed the decline to airlines trimming seat capacity to better align with the recession-driven slump in air travel.

The slide also has affected revenue generated by parking, as well as retail and food establishments in the McNamara and North terminals, further pinching the airport's operating budget, said spokesman Michael Conway.

The airport has taken several steps to cut costs in response to dwindling revenues, including a 15 percent workforce reduction at the end of last year, Conway said.

He added that the airport doesn't anticipate needing any other adjustments to its budget for this year, such as raising the costs charged to the airlines operating at its facilities.

The traffic decrease is on par with some other major metropolitan airports across the country.

Nationwide, passenger volumes were down 6 percent between 2008 and 2009, according to the International Air Transport Association, an airline industry trade group.
Chicago O'Hare International Airport, for instance, saw a 9 percent decline in passengers last year, the association reported.

Metro Airport is Delta's second-largest hub and a major gateway for international flights.

After months of negotiations in 2008, Delta merged with Northwest to become the world's largest airline.

The falloff in passenger traffic came as no surprise to airport officials who had been monitoring its drop through the year as airlines cut back on seats and cash-strapped travelers held off on bookings, Conway said.

For the airlines, 2009 also was a rough year with industry experts saying 2010 will be only slightly better.

"In terms of passenger traffic, (2009) goes into the history books as the worst year since World War II," said Steve Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association.

Globally, passenger traffic dropped 3.5 percent, causing a loss of about $11 billion industrywide for airlines, he said.

One bright spot for Detroit, though, is that it's a major hub for Delta and not completely dependent on the local economy, he said.

Delta also plans to add several long-haul routes from Detroit this year to places such as Shanghai and Hong Kong.

"The Detroit hub has continued to perform well amid the economic downturn, and with the addition of new Asia service later this year, it will be well positioned for the future," said Susan Chana Elliott, a Delta spokeswoman.

But the worst isn't likely over for this embattled industry, Lott said.

Airlines haven't seen demand for air travel return to the point where it's likely they'll begin to add back all the seats cut in the past year, he said.

"The industry is in a very fragile state right now," Lott added.

The Detroit News