Up until the day I went to talk with Dan Wiersma about the
Regional Air Alliance of West Michigan (RAAWM), I still thought that when you decided to take a plane somewhere, you usually drove or took a bus to Detroit or Chicago first. Why did I think that? Because that's what everyone said. It was cheaper to get to Detroit or Chicago and fly from there than it was to fly straight out of Grand Rapids.
Wiersma, RAAWM's executive director and treasurer, explains to me that RAAWM is making strides to change that, and has already greatly impacted the cost of air transit in West Michigan.
In 2007, Wiersma says, Dick Devos was approached by a number of business leaders at a Christmas party. The conversation dealt with the issues of how expensive it was to fly in or out of Grand Rapids, and what it would take to bring a low-cost air carrier to town.
The primary issue when it came to high flight costs was the lack of a pricing spectrum. The only air service providers were legacy carriers. At this time, West Michigan was the largest market in the country without a low-cost carrier, and one of the top five most expensive airports since 2005.
In 2008, Wiersma got on board to help and in 2009, RAAWM had officially formed, with a few key elements in mind:
1. Passenger Service Quality. RAAWM "commissioned a survey initiative starting in the first quarter of 2010 in which (they) used a standard that's been established for evaluating passenger experience," Wiersma says. In this way and with repeated surveying, RAAWM is able to ascertain the strengths of weaknesses of Grand Rapids' airport. "What you don't measure," Wiersma says, "you can't manage."
2. RAAWM then made an effort to evaluate the quality of airport operations using an airport industry standard method of measurement to make sure an airport is operating as "efficiently, profitably and responsibly as possible."
3. "(We wanted to) understand the value proposition associated with air service in a region," Wiersma says next. RAAWM commissioned a consulting firm to analyze our region to learn what value air travel has to it, both quantitatively and subjectively.
4. RAAWM then explored the existing relationship Grand Rapids had with air service providers, including airlines already servicing the market. "We didn't want (existing legacy carriers) to think they were getting shorted by this initiative," he says. "We let them know who we were, what we were trying to do and that they had a contact in the community should they choose to engage us."
5. And lastly, RAAWM "had the desire to introduce a low-cost carrier to the region," Wiersma says, a move that would expand the pricing spectrum and therefore, change the cost-prohibitive stigma attached to flying in or out of Grand Rapids.
It was announced that AirTran would come to Grand Rapids in Jaunary of 2010, and they took to the skies in May of the same year. August 2010 saw a record month -- more people went through GRR than had ever gone through the airport in a single month. Grand Rapids went from being one of the top five most expensive cities to fly out of to number 28.
"Expanding the pricing spectrum opened up the universe of people who fly at this price point who wouldn't fly at another price point," Wiersma says. "(RAWWM) is not trying to get rid of one service in favor of another, but rather expanding that pricing spectrum so people have more choice about what is available to them."
AirTran doesn't do international flights, and has its own domestic map with certain limitations, meaning that by no means will AirTran ever replace legacy carriers. But, it's a good start to leveling the playing field and providing customer choice.
"The business community says price is important, but not most importantly, we want to make sure we have a broader spectrum of opportunities and choices, also recognizing that improved air service going forward actually represents a significant contributor to the quality of life in a region as people become more mobile," Wiersma says. "Mobility has value."
Frontier Airlines is another low-cost carrier now in Grand Rapids. This year, Southwest Airlines plans to merge with AirTran.
"We need to make sure that AirTrain views their experience in West Michigan as an unmitigated success," Wiersma says. "The more successful AirTran is, the more attractive this market will appear to Southwest."
So, while what you're reading now may be a short introduction to RAAWM, this isn't the last you'll hear about it from us. We're going to explore how a low-cost carrier in our city effects our region and the airports near us, how it changes our city as a destination point and the impact on business here -- from large corporations to the independent small business owner or artist, to the recreational traveler. Perhaps one of us will even wind up on a plane ourselves soon. Stay tuned.
J. Bennett Rylah is the Managing Editor of Rapid Growth Media.