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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
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Port, Firms Still Assessing Impact of Shutdown

The San Diego Unified Port District won’t know for weeks how much money was lost during the two-day closure of Lindbergh Field.

But, according to port staff members, the losses are expected to be in the tens of millions and will be shared by the airlines and airport concessions as well as the taxis and shuttles operating outside.

The airport was shut down Sept. 11 and 12 after the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Although air operations for the 18 airlines that fly out of Lindbergh are slowly getting back up to speed, the financial effects are expected to linger for some time.

According to Jim Hutzelman, a port spokesman, during the last week of September, more than two weeks after the attacks, concessions at the airport were down 25 percent, rental car services were down 50 percent and parking lot revenues were off by about 25 percent.

“We will be calculating the cost to the port for some time because of the extra security requirements in place,” Hutzelman said. “It will be into the next month before we know what the entire shut down should cost.”

Steve Westin, manager of San Diego Co-op Cab company, said business was steady the day of the attack because stranded passengers needed transportation from the airport to area hotels and rental car agencies. He said his company started to feel the effects of the disaster a few days later when passenger travel was down, as was hotel occupancy.

“The slowdown caused a very severe impact for us,” Westin said. “It’s not up to normal by any means.”

As of Sept. 27, Westin said San Diego Co-op Cab was about 50 percent below normal.

Xpress Shuttle, which counts on airport travel for about 90 percent of its business, said operations were down about 40 percent.

“We’re waddling by,” said Gary Farmer, assistant operations manager for the shuttle company. “Our estimated loss is about several thousand dollars.”

The same is true for Cloud 9 Shuttle, with the bulk of it business, 85 percent, connected to the airport.

Cloud 9 President John Hawkins said the slowdown has caused them to cut their work force by about 40 percent, the equivalent of 150 full-time workers. Hawkins said the company didn’t actually lay off 150 employees, but scaled back the hours those employees work.

“On a much smaller scale, we are in the transportation business of airport commerce,” Hawkins said. “Our numbers are reflective of what the airlines are doing.”

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