So I'm leaving IND Aug. 19 after attending the National Association of Black Journalists conference. Now, airports are not only my job, but one of my hobbies. I travel a lot, so I get to see a lot of different things. So I thought I'd share some of the things I observed at IND.
I happen to like the entrepreneurial spirit of this airport. Business travelers are always looking for that elusive power outlet. IND not only has them plenty of them, but they got Chase Bank to pay for and sponsor them. How clever is that? I even took a bad photo of it with my Treo phone camera. OK, so Richard Avedon I'm not!
Chase also sponsors IND's Flight Information Display monitors. My subscribers know I wrote about this in the Aviation Daily/Airports issue dated May 30, after taking an official airport tour.
IND also has a huge Cingular banner on the short-term parking garage as you drive into the terminal. An
d IND has joined ATL and SFO as airports with Zoom vending machines that sell electronics like iPods, Sony PSPs, Walkman MP3 players and memory sticks. Again, I've inserted another bad Treo phone photo of the vending machine. I did a story about Zoom targeting airports in the Aug. 22 issue of Aviation Daily/Airports, including how the airports share in the revenue generated from the machines.
With airlines cutting back and just trying to survive, airports are having to become quite creative in how they boost their non-airline revenue. I give IND a big hand for finding a way to hold down airline costs while adding to the bottom line.
And all of this fits in perfectly with Airports' Question of the Week:
As airline dollars continue to be scarce, airports are looking at unique non-airline revenue sources to balance the bottom line. Denver and Oklahoma City have oil wells, while Las Vegas has slot machines that bring in millions of dollars a year. What unique revenue sources does your airport have? Send your story to benet_wilson@aviationweek.com and your airport could be featured in a future issue.
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