Car Rental Cos. Seek Voice On Airport Plans

<B> Car Rental Cos. Seek Voice On Airport Plans</B>

By Lynn Woods

More and more airport authorities are drawing up plans for new consolidated car rental garages removed from the terminal as part of the expansion of their space-crunched facilities--and car rental companies increasingly are seeking a more active role in the planning process. Whether their involvement concerns the design of the facility, its proximity to the terminal, common busing or a people mover, the industry wants to ensure that the needs of their customers are not forgotten.

"We represent 50 percent of deplaning passengers at some airports," said Dave Fiore, director of airport affairs and properties at Budget Rent a Car. "Airport authorities need to include the car rental industry early in the planning process so that we can examine all the options."

But lapses in doing that have resulted in unnecessary inconveniences for car rental customers. At Little Rock airport, for example, the new car rental facility's counters are "farther from the baggage carousel than they need to be," said Fiore. "We weren't brought to the table soon enough."

Common busing also is an issue, but easier to rectify. When a new consolidated facility opened at Cleveland airport several months ago, car renters found themselves riding on an airport bus routed along a slow public access road with several traffic lights. "We got a lot of complaints," said Simon Ellis, vice president of properties and concessions at Hertz. The airport authority "underestimated the capacity of the buses." Ellis said Hertz was working with the busing company to improve the number, frequency and capacity of buses, and also was trying to improve the sequencing of the traffic lights.

In Minneapolis/St. Paul, airport buses transport customers to an interim facility housing the car rental firms during the 18 months in which a new garage is being constructed. The airport authority "put us in substandard conditions," said Fiore. "Customers had a 40- to 45-minute wait on the common bus." The airport staff is cooperative, however, in working with the car rental companies to correct the problem.

Intolerable delays aren't limited to airports under construction. Problems at Boston's Logan Airport have prompted at least one corporation to use an alternative method of transportation. Mary Maher, travel and fleet manager at Boston Scientific, said her travelers take Massport express buses from Logan to Framingham, Mass., and rent cars there.

Then there are the successes. Two recently completed airport expansion projects that have won the car rental industry's praise are San Francisco International and Portland (Ore.) International. The new consolidated facility at San Francisco, which opened in December, has a five-floor garage with seven acres of space per floor, Ellis said, and the airport bus will be replaced by a people mover in 2001. "It will only be a two- or three-minute ride. People movers are a good solution because they're traffic- free." Salt Lake City and Minneapolis/St. Paul also are considering people movers.

At Portland, the two-story consolidated car rental garage opening in early November doesn't involve busing at all. Said Fiore, "Customers can walk from the baggage belt to a collection of counters and from there right to the car." That's a rare thing in newly constructed facilities, though it's also available at Pittsburgh International, where the car rental industry was involved in the design from the very start. Ellis said that Pittsburgh is unique: As a brand-new terminal, it enabled the car rental companies to start with a clean slate. In almost all the other airport expansion projects, they have to deal with existing limitations.

One consolidated facility still on the drawing board, which Fiore said represents "a premier model design taking into consideration customer convenience," is scheduled to open at Houston in the next two years. The multi-story garage will be approached by buses arriving on the top level. Passengers will descend by elevator or escalator to the counter areas, and from there only half a level to their cars. The facility will be completely self-contained, housing the lots, cars and counters and also maintenance and storage facilities.

While car rental companies have been successful in certain instances at influencing the design of new facilities, they tend to have less say over the location. At DFW, the facility currently under construction is two miles from the terminal. In New Orleans the car rental industry is busy lobbying the airport authority to reconsider the site for a new facility, which Fiore said is "clear on the other side of the airport."

New consolidated facilities are in the planning stages in Philadelphia, San Jose, Seattle, and further down the road, Albuquerque, Chicago/O'Hare, Miami, Phoenix and possibly Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas and San Diego. Denver International plans to expand its roadways, which would increase the efficiency of common busing.

Hertz has been embarking on an expansion of its own. It has completed construction of a third deck at its garage at Atlanta Hartsfield, and is considering additions at Newark and Detroit Metropolitan.

In many instances the new garages offer more space, enabling more rental companies to go on-airport. Thrifty Car Rental, for example, has opened 18 locations on-airport since August.