Detroit's spirits soar with new North Terminal
— -- In the construction dust on the new North Terminal's giant signature windows, someone was inspired to draw a big happy face — a fitting symbol of the mood around Detroit Metro Airport after the terminal's completion.
Airlines, travelers and tourism officials can't wait for the $431-million terminal to open for business Wednesday.
But even with its state-of-the-art equipment, great lighting and cool shops, the terminal can't escape the financial issues plaguing airlines. It will open with six of its 24 gates vacant.
"When is it going to be filled? Not anytime soon," said Vaughn Cordle, chief analyst for AirlineForecasts, a research firm based in Washington, D.C. "New terminals are nice, but they don't generate traffic."
By contrast, all gates at the McNamara terminal were leased when it opened in 2002.
Opportunities for growth
The Wayne County Airport Authority projects that passenger traffic at the North and McNamara terminals will drop in the 2009 fiscal year by about 7% from 2008. Airlines set to occupy the new North Terminal are projecting a 12.6% drop.
At Spirit Airlines, Detroit's second-largest carrier, projections call for a 31% drop in passengers in fiscal 2009.
Spirit leases six gates at the Smith terminal, which the North Terminal replaces. The airline will lease only two in the North Terminal, with an option to use a common-use gate nearby several times a day, said Jake Filene, Spirit's director of airport affairs and administration.
It will occupy fewer gates for a couple of reasons: Spirit isn't flying as much as it once was out of Detroit, and it is also operating more efficiently.
The terminal "is opening at an inopportune time for the industry," Filene said. "But the terminal has been years and years in the planning. ... It provides a lot of opportunity for future growth."
However, a new terminal isn't enough to lure a carrier to add flights, said Daniel Kasper, managing director for LECG, an economic consulting group in Cambridge, Mass.
