Hartsfield-Jackson to fliers: Come park with us

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By KELLY YAMANOUCHI

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta’s airport plans a campaign to convince travelers to use its own park-ride parking lots instead of private off-airport lots.

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Ben Gray, AJC Atlanta’s airport plans a campaign to convince travelers to use its own park-ride parking lots instead of private off-airport lots.

Airport Parking

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The airport’s pitch -- which it plans to make through a direct marketing campaign including a coupon for a free day of parking -- is that its lots are not as expensive as some may think and are cleaner than they used to be.

And, “there are spaces available,” said Hartsfield-Jackson International’s director of marketing and business development Jeff Pearse. “It’s not like two summers ago when the economy was buzzing.”

Passenger traffic is down about 3 percent from a year ago, but parking revenue has declined about 15 percent, according to airport manager Ben DeCosta.

“I don’t see any reason why [private lots] should be doing as well at the airport’s expense,” he said. “What they have is loyalty.”

“We know people used to feel, you come here, you have to sit in line. You come here, it’s dirty,” DeCosta said. But, “we’ve made a lot of changes in parking over the years.”

Hartsfield-Jackson wants to draw more traffic to its own park-ride lots, which cost $9 per day. The private off-airport lots range from less than $7 a day with coupons to more than $13 per day for covered spaces and valet service.

David Grocer, vice president of marketing and sales for Park ‘N Fly, was diplomatic when asked about the airport’s planned promotions.

“There will always be people who want to park on airport, so I think there are different products for different people,” Grocer said. “I think the No. 1 issue is hopefully we get more people flying and that will benefit everybody.”

Travelers choose off-airport lots for the service, perks and price, said Grocer.

Pearse acknowledged that the airport could have a hard time drawing back people who’ve gotten used to off-site perks. He said another target market is travelers who get dropped off by friends or family.

The airport also hopes to attract customers to a parking option called park-ride reserve, the renamed silver reserve lot that failed to attract enough customers. Hartsfield-Jackson is lowering the cost in hopes of drawing travelers for $12 a day for a guaranteed spot.

Parking is the biggest revenue generator at Hartsfield-Jackson, which was named the most efficient airport in North America by the Air Transport Research Society..

The airport also has launched a campaign advertising its new concessions, with the tagline “Shop. Dine. Explore.” It includes online and magazine ads and commercials that ran on WSB for six weeks and are running on the CNN airport channel at Hartsfield-Jackson. It’s the airport’s first television campaign in recent memory, airport officials said.

The airport’s annual budget for concessions advertising is less than $1 million, said Hartsfield-Jackson concessions marketing manager Demetria Wideman. The budget is drawn primarily from a new fund created last fall with a 0.5 percent levy on sales of new retail concessionaires.