HANOVER TWP., Pa. — A committee overseeing operations of Lehigh Valley International Airport took steps Monday to raise fees on rideshare trips to and from LVIA and to evaluate a new tool for passengers to book flights from the airport’s website.
It also selected a contractor to design a new parking garage on site.
Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority’s business committee voted to endorse a new agreement with rideshare companies operating at LVIA that would increase their fee charged on every trip to and from the airport from $2 to $2.50.
Future increases also would be easier for the authority’s board of governors to enact.
Members also reviewed a new tool, now active, that lets customers search for flights from the airport’s website, and praised its ability to provide invaluable data on users’ search and booking habits.
Additionally, the committee recommended Dallas-based design firm AECOM to oversee design and permitting of a 1,000-space parking garage planned at the airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.
The authority’s full board of governors will vote Tuesday on formally adopting the committee’s recommendations.
New tool gives valuable user data
The business committee praised a new addition to the airport’s website that lets customers search flights directly from the airport’s website, saying the user data it would provide could give the authority insight into consumer behavior they can't otherwise access.
After choosing a destination and departure and arrival dates, users are shown results via the flight booking service Kayak. After selecting a flight, the user is redirected again to a third site — typically an airline’s — to buy a ticket.
“We’ve had booking engines on our website in the past, LNAA Business Development Director Darren Betters said.
"What’s great about this is that even though [customers] are going out to Kayak and then to the airline website, we’re getting all that data back. We know what people are doing.”
That data then can inform marketing efforts and guide incentives for airlines to offer new routes out of LVIA.
For example, the tool shows airport staff which destinations people are searching for most frequently. Over the past two months, the Orlando, Florida area’s two airports easily took first and second place.
Easily pays for itself
If many customers search for flights to a particular destination, but relatively few make it to choosing a flight, it may mean existing service needs to be modified, said Alexa Sarisky, the airport authority’s marketing specialist.
“We can take this back to the airlines and show them,” Sarisky said. “Maybe the times aren't working, or maybe we need a few more options.”
“It’s worth it."Alexa Sarisky, the airport authority’s marketing specialist
While third-party booking services and airlines collected data on their customers’ preferences, the airport had no previous way to do that.
“You can’t get the airlines to tell us anything,” Betters said. “Even like load factor data, things we can get — that stuff trails six months behind. So by the time we’re trying to market to fix that, it’s too late.”
The tool cost the airport authority $4,000 to add to its website, and an additional $2,100 per month to maintain.
“It’s worth it,” Sarisky said.
If the newly gathered data can help persuade an airline to add one new destination served from LVIA, Betters said, it will have “easily” paid for itself.
Uber, Lyft rides could cost more
Uber and Lyft rides to and from Lehigh Valley International Airport soon will be more expensive, with the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority poised to approve a new agreement with rideshare companies operating at the airport.
Currently, the airport authority adds a $2 fee to every Uber or Lyft trip starting or ending at Lehigh Valley International Airport. The cost is, in turn, passed on to riders.
Newly negotiated agreements with Uber and Lyft will raise the fee to $2.50, which is in line with LVIA’s peers, according to Betters, the authority’s director of business development.
“That is pretty much right smack in the middle… of other like-sized airports."LNAA Business Development Director Darren Betters
“That is pretty much right smack in the middle… of other like-sized airports,” he said.
The airport authority’s director of finance and administration, Todd Quann, estimated the increase will raise an additional $38,000 for the airport each year, give or take.
The new rideshare agreement also makes changing the amount charged for each ride easier for the board to adjust going forward.
Previously, raising the fee meant amending or replacing the authority’s agreement with rideshare companies. Under the new rules, the board of governors would need only pass a resolution setting the new rate.
Additionally, a third rideshare company is reviewing the authority’s terms and may soon offer service to and from LVIA: Philadelphia-based GoVysh, a recently founded startup.
Design firm for parking garage
In the latest step toward building a new parking garage on airport grounds, the board’s business committee recommended a design firm to oversee early work on the project.
The project’s design consultant will plan the project and shepherd it through the land development permitting process.
Part of its job will be to determine where exactly on airport grounds it will be built, how long it will take and how much it will cost.
The garage, set to include about 1,000 new spaces, will take years to complete; the design and permitting phase alone will likely take about 18 months, officials estimate.
Currently, LVIA offers 1,900 parking spaces in all, including a 200-spot overflow lot used as a last resort.
The airport will run out of parking some time in 2028, according to pre-pandemic LNAA projections.
Six firms submitted proposals for the project.
Officials involved in the selection process interviewed and scored their top three selections for the job, LNAA Planning and Programming Director Ryan Meyer said, ultimately selecting Dallas-based design firm AECOM.
The firm was selected in part because it has experience working on projects in the Lehigh Valley, he said.
Once the design consultant is approved, they will meet with airport officials to lay out the scope of the project, a process likely to take two to three months.
