Airport plans 'direct' policy on staff flying

It aims to set example, urge others to go nonstop route

Officials at the state's largest airport want to put their money where their mouths are and encourage airport employees to take direct, nonstop flights when feasible.

Ron Mathieu, the executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, said in an interview that the proposed policy formalizes what airport staff members already have been doing on a limited basis -- though existing policy technically requires airport employees to take the least expensive flight when traveling on airport business.

The Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission's personnel committee Tuesday recommended the proposed policy to the full commission, which is to meet next week.

Airport officials want to set an example and encourage other employers to consider using direct, nonstop flights from Clinton National, he said.

"We're trying to make a statement," Mathieu said.

In presentations to community groups around the state, Mathieu said, he and other airport staff members encourage people to support direct, nonstop flights, but they often are told that employers' policies require their staffs to take the lowest-cost flights, which generally aren't nonstop.

The airport's proposed policy is "symbolic" and will be used "when it is reasonable and appropriate," Mathieu said.

Airport officials are still smarting from last year's decision by American Airlines to discontinue direct service between Clinton National and LaGuardia Airport in New York because of low demand. The decision came less than a year after the flights began.

The airport now has 14 direct, nonstop flights to destinations that include Dallas; Houston; Atlanta; Denver; Chicago; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Detroit; Orlando, Fla.; and Charlotte, N.C. Those flights are on six airlines that serve Clinton National.

The airport's current travel policy says air travel "shall be limited to the round trip 'economy coach' fare between the airport and the destination city."

Last month, Mathieu's staff proposed adding that "Employees are encouraged to use direct (non-stop) flights when available. If no direct (non-stop) flights are available, then employees should select the next best available flight in line with this policy."

However, Stacy Hurst, a member of the airport personnel committee, expressed reluctance to endorse that specific language, saying it was overly broad.

The new language, which received the committee's recommendation Tuesday, says "the use of direct (non-stop) flights that are more expensive than multi-stop economy flights is permissible when, in the opinion of the executive director or his/her designee, the cost of the economy fare and its related travel expenses are comparable, or deemed necessary due to schedule or time constraints of the business travel."

Hurst backed the new language but wondered why it was necessary.

"I don't have a disagreement with this at all," she said. "I assumed it's within Ron's authority."

Mathieu said the new policy, if it is approved, gives him and his staff stronger standing to encourage business travelers to take direct flights when they are available.

"It's a little hypocritical on our part if we don't support direct flights," he said.

The number of flights that airport employees took last year wasn't immediately available Tuesday.

The airport spent $118,708 on activities related to travel, training and meetings in the first seven months of 2016, the latest period for which such figures were available. During the same period in 2015, the airport spent $184,493 in that category.

The category is broader than air travel and can include hotel, meetings registration and per diem expenses, according to Shane Carter, the spokesman for Clinton National.

Metro on 09/14/2016

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