Tallahassee steps up JetBlue courtship

It was a typical business trip. Eating. Meeting. Greeting.

When two JetBlue officials visited Tallahassee in mid-June, it wasn't what they did here, it was their presence that was so important.

"There's not a lot of airports that ask for them to come and visit their city and they do," said Chris Curry, the city of Tallahassee's director of aviation. "For us to get them into the market to visually see for themselves is significant to me."

On June 15, JetBlue's Vice President of Network and Planning Dave Clark and Director of Corporate Sales Robbie Mehoke arrived at Tallahassee International Airport for a hush-hush tour of Tallahassee. For the next 24 hours, politicians, university presidents and hospital executives would give them the Capital City elevator pitch.

Local business bigwigs, government officials and university leaders have all but begged the airline to start a direct route between Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. The route would be an economic boon, they say, that could expand the Tallahassee International Airport offerings and possibly lower ticket prices.

City Commissioner Scott Maddox said he's "optimistic" about JetBlue's likelihood of coming to Tallahassee based on his experience pursuing airlines. Should the carrier give the go-ahead, he said, flights could start as soon as February.

"I've done this a lot. I've had a lot of doors shut in my face and you learn over time which ones are showing interest," he said.  "I think there's real interest in Tallahassee."

Ron Sachs, president and CEO of Sachs Media Group, which provided pro-bono services for the GetBlue pledge campaign, said local efforts yielded "promising results."

"This is not a dream," Sachs said."It’s an actual conversation taking place right now, and it's very exciting for our community and our state.”

Campaign: Tallahassee wants JetBlue

Those wooing the airline rolled out Tallahassee's version of a red carpet: A tour of the airport and City Hall; a "Let's Talk Tallahassee" reception at Level 8 and dinner at Shula's with Mayor Andrew Gillum, state Sen. Bill Montford, Leon County Administrator Vince Long and Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Sue Dick, among others.

The next day, there was a business breakfast at Uptown Cafe focusing on "the regional and national impact of Tallahassee's health sector" with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare President and CEO Mark O'Bryant, Capital Regional Medical Center President Mark Robinson and leaders of insurance provider Capital Health Plan.

They then met with the Chamber and Florida A&M University President Elmira Mangum. Later, it was lunch at the Governor's Club with Florida State University President John Thrasher, Maddox, Curry and City Manager Rick Fernandez.

The visit was born out of city officials' two-year courtship of the low-cost airline. Maddox's office, he said, "pestered" JetBlue for meetings with high-level officials until they landed the Tallahassee trip. In November, Maddox, Curry and then-EDC executive director Ben Pingree pitched Tallahassee during a meeting at JetBlue headquarters in New York City. The group, along with Fernandez, made a second trip in April.

The JetBlue executives are making a similar trip to Fort Lauderdale next month. Curry and Maddox, who is organizing the visit, will make the trip along with a Tallahassee contingent.

To lure the airline, the city is offering more than $1 million in incentives during the carrier's first year. The package includes covering JetBlue's landing and fuel fees and start-up expenses. The incentives would be paid for using a $1-million grant awarded by the state Legislature this year, plus $25,000 in in-kind donations from the Chamber, $40,000 from the Tourist Development Council and about $270,000 from airport funds, which Curry hopes will be covered by revenues.

The money spent on incentives, Curry said, will be minimal compared to JetBlue's economic impact.

Our opinion: JetBlue for Tallahassee: The time is now

The groundswell for JetBlue, Maddox said, made a difference to its executives. The local effort included a letter-writing campaign, during which dozens of local businesses urged JetBlue to set up shop in Tallahassee. Gov. Rick Scott also sent a letter and so did the legislative delegations from Miami-Dade and Broward counties and Fort Lauderdale Mayor John Seiler. The GetBlue campaign drew more than $2 million in pledges from people promising to book JetBlue flights.

But the city's enthusiasm could be trumped by cold hard numbers.

"No matter how many people they meet with," Curry said, "if the numbers don't work, and it doesn't make economic sense for them, then it really doesn't matter."

Tallahassee's numbers, Maddox said, aren't impressive enough to put Tallahassee near the top of JetBlue's list of prospective cities.

“Tallahassee’s story is better than her data," Maddox said. "What I wanted to be able to tell through the GetBlue campaign, through hearing from CEOs directly and community leaders, through folks pledging to buy plane tickets, that we will outperform our data given the option of a low-cost carrier."

Maddox envisions a world in which Tallahasseeans aren't driving I-10, bleary-eyed with coffee jitters, to catch a morning flight out of Jacksonville; one where a family taking a European vacation won't have to make the 4-hour trek to Atlanta to board an international flight.

"There's a high percentage of people who are driving who don't wish to," he said.

FSU pledges $1 million to land JetBlue

The top three destinations for Tallahasseeans are New York City, Washington, D.C., and Fort Lauderdale. The Fort Lauderdale route would not only serve as a direct flight to a popular destination but also would allow a flyer to connect to D.C. and New York from Tallahassee. Maddox hopes that eventually, the data supports JetBlue establishing direct routes to D.C. and New York.

"In the meantime, there's an immediate need to serve folks going back and forth between South and North Florida that have no options," Maddox said.

The North-South solution, Curry said, would directly impact South Florida college students in Tallahassee. About 10,000 FSU students, 2,500 FAMU students and about 1,800 Tallahassee Community College students hail from the counties surrounding Fort Lauderdale.

JetBlue, Curry said, is establishing Fort Lauderdale as a hub city, which would further help Tallahassee, predominantly a business market. Fort Lauderdale's access to the Caribbean allows Tallahassee to tap into the leisure travel market.

'GetBlue' campaign reaches $2-million goal

Apart from the visit, Curry is encouraged by the quick pace of negotiations between Tallahassee and JetBlue — "some of these take as long as 10 years to develop," he said.

The next step is the meeting in Fort Lauderdale, where Curry said the same enthusiasm for JetBlue exists. Continued talks are evidence there's a "good mutual feeling" between the two.

"I feel good that at some point in time that Tallahassee could have their service," he said, "but you never know what the future holds."

Contact Sean Rossman atsrossman@tallahassee.com or follow@SeanRossman on Twitter.