Management and Performance Review of County Government ...

Enterprise Operations of Jefferson County
clear from the data if any of these operations occurred after midnight, but most
commercial activity of regional carriers is between 6 a.m. and midnight. Therefore, it is
unlikely many or any of these diversions were after midnight.
Training is another matter. Training flights could occur in non-peak hours. There
were 49 training flights (one every 1.8 days) that landed and purchased fuel during the
first quarter of 2005. On average these aircraft purchased 730 gallons of fuel, earning
the airport about $100 in flow fees. Hours of these flights were not provided to the
review team.
IMPLEMENTATION
Airport officials should discuss merits of recommendation with airlines and other
tenants and customers, the FAA, the Southeast Texas Coalition of Air Service, and
county leaders. Additional analysis to quantify financial benefits and determine any
intangible benefits should be conducted.
FISCAL IMPACT
Up to two ARFF positions could be eliminated by reducing hours of operations,
depending on whether eight or 10-hour schedules were used. The estimate assumes
current salaries and benefits. The estimated savings should be compared to (and
reduced by) any potential loss of revenue due to reduced number of training and
diversion flights that might result from reduced hours of operation. Sufficient data were
not available to conduct this cost-benefit analysis. Airport officials believe that a 24/7
operation provides intangible benefits because airlines know that SETRA is always open
and ready to receive and service all arrivals including diversions and training flights.
Recommendation 8-12 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-2010
Reduce ARFF team’s
hours of operation
$86,000 $86,000 $86,000 $86,000 $86,000
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