BWI Backers Seek to Boost International Travel

By Darcy Costello, Capital News Service

State officials have expressed an interest in increasing international travel at Baltimore/Washington International Airport.

Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, sitting in for Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan at the Board of Public Works meeting, acknowledged the governor’s “adamant” desire for BWI’s growth in the Washington, D.C., market and increasing competition with Dulles International Airport.

Discussion stemmed from a two-year contract renewal by the Department of Transportation and Maryland Aviation Administration for marketing and advertising services with a private company. The contract, which will run until December 2017, is for $2.4 million.

Though this specific contract focused on marketing the airport to consumers, Rutherford questioned whether BWI was also marketing itself toward other airlines. The airport is a hub for Southwest Airlines, which arrived in 1993 and expanded through the 2000s.

“You’re the expert, I’m not, but it appears that Delta could be someone to go after. They have their hub in Atlanta and a smaller, satellite hub at JFK,” Rutherford said, addressing Ricky Smith, the chief executive of BWI and head of the Maryland Aviation Administration. “Is it possible to have a satellite hub here, which will then help our international travel?”

Smith said officials had not spoken with Delta Airlines about creating an additional hub at BWI, and added that a premier carrier, like Southwest, can deter other prospects.

Last year, the number of international passengers at BWI grew by about 12 percent, according to Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn.

Still, as Southwest doesn’t offer much flight coordination with other carriers, passengers taking international flights may have a difficult time connecting to other destinations, Rutherford said. BWI spokesman Jonathan O’Dean said that Southwest has indicated that it intends to grow its international service at BWI in the coming years, which he said would be an important benefit for the airport’s travelers.

“That would be a game-changer for Maryland because it would really open BWI into an international prospect,” Smith said.

According to Brad Hawkins, a representative for Southwest Airlines, BWI is the second-largest airport in terms of daily departures for the primarily domestic carrier — with nearly 240 flights a day to 63 cities.

Comptroller Peter Franchot, a Democrat, praised Southwest Airlines, calling on the aviation administration to “nurture” their relationship with the airline, as they are the “future of that airport.”