As Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport prepares to lose daily passenger service, an area business leader is reaching out to the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority in efforts to jump-start efforts to attract commercial flights to the Toledo landmark.
"We need to gather people who are responsible for businesses, particularly presidents, vice presidents, and others who depend upon that airport," said Ed Harmon, chairman and founder of Toledo-based commercial real estate brokerage firm NAI Harmon Group. "We need to see what can help the port authority make decisions that could bring airlines back into Toledo."
As a national developer, Mr. Harmon said his company brings companies and representatives or site selectors to the Toledo area.
"If we have them fly into other airports, the reaction we normally get is 'Why don't we locate in Cleveland, Fort Wayne, Detroit, Columbus versus come here, that we have to drive here because there's no air service,'" he said.
"That is a real factor in the future development of our community," said Mr. Harmon, honored with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Michigan and northwestern Ohio by Ernst & Young in 2021.
In the letter to Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority President CEO Thomas J. Winston, Mr. Harmon reacted to the cancellation of American Airlines commercial service via American Eagle commuter of Toledo Express effective Sept. 7. He described such service as "imperative."
"I am deeply concerned that with this decision our local community has yet another hurdle to face in these already difficult times," Mr. Harmon wrote.
"I urge you to consider organizing a committee of local business leaders to help investigate ways to restore commercial airline service from Toledo to anywhere.”
This, Mr. Harmon wrote, will not only help Toledo grow, but also will "allow our people to thrive."
"Our community must have commercial air service out of Toledo Express to assist with ease and freedom to travel," Mr. Harmon wrote. "Without commercial air travel access out of Toledo Express, the future of business growth and development is disrupted.”
He went on to note that the Toledo area had recently brought in Fortune 500 companies, not only from other states but also from Asia and Europe.
"In order to continue this growth, commercial air travel is imperative for future growth," Mr. Harmon added. "We must enlist leaders capable of implementing decisions to quickly restore our faith [and] strength in the airline industry."
Mr. Winston said he has had follow-up conversations with Mr. Harmon about the letter.
"I certainly hear his passion and desire to ensure that there needs to be commercial service at Toledo Express Airport," Mr. Winston said.
Mr. Winston stressed that the port authority has "continued to engage on multiple fronts towards that end, and including engaging the business community as he suggested," Mr. Winston said, adding that the business community "will absolutely" be a key part of this, particularly with daily commercial services.
In the interview, Mr. Harmon described the outreach as cordial.
"Keep in mind that I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus and that I would rather be positive and understanding," Mr. Harmon said. "That we can make a difference if we work as a group, as a committee, or some type of authority to look to see what can be done to improve our air service."
Conversations have started.
"We are optimistic that we can get something done, but it's going to take a lot of effort on a lot of people's parts," Mr. Harmon said. "We just want to look at every opportunity that could be."
Economic opportunities
In a July interview, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) spoke of the opportunities for Toledo Express beyond passenger travel and into the transportation connections and economic development realm.
A plan, Ms. Kaptur said, is connecting, for example, at Toledo Express "freight rail, which is located [near] the airport, the I-80/90 [Ohio] Turnpike, and the airport in a new configuration to move cargo and people much more quickly and to work with 180th Fighter Wing to see what other defense assets we bring in here that related to flight."
Calling for excellent planners "who have futuristic ideas in order to move this community forward," Ms. Kaptur said that her concerns extended beyond Toledo Express to "every single transportation sector” in the region.
The concept of visionary thinking involving Toledo Express dates back to its opening in 1955.
President Dwight Eisenhower, in a letter to Toledo Mayor Lloyd Roulet, described Toledo's airport efforts as a "striking example of local initiative and enterprise."
Toledo Express opened as a $3.8 million project without any U.S. government aid. Toledo had sought federal aid but its application was bogged down in bureaucracy. In 1951, 1953, and 1954, voters approved funds that went for airport construction.
The site was selected in 1952. It was among 19 possible locations, most of them eventually abandoned from consideration because of protests from residents in the designated areas. No landowners protested the site where Toledo Express made its home.
Today, Ms. Kaptur pointed to the Toledo Express' own grounds as an example of proactive efforts.
"The [Toledo] Board of Education has done a great job in creating a program to educate airplane mechanics," she said. "I can't applaud them enough. That is so magnificent, and those people are being hired. We are so short on airplane mechanics across this country, that we could expand that program."
Toledo Express, Jeep
Former Mayor Donna Owens recalled Toledo Express as an important part of her administration's economic development resources during her three terms as mayor from 1983-89.
"It's one of the things you put in your presentation," she said.
"It's just like when Lee Iaccoca was to pull out Jeep [from Toledo] when I was mayor," Ms. Owens said, referencing the then-Chrysler CEO.
"I was the first mayor who had to face that," Ms. Owens said.
"Then it happened during Carty's administration, too," she said in reference to one of her successors, Carty Finkbeiner.
"I personally went to Detroit and met with him," Ms. Owens recalled of the 1986 secret meeting with Mr. Iaccoca in Warren, Mich. "I did not take anybody with me. It was just him and I and his intergovernmental relations person. The information I gave him at the time made him decide because he was actually going to leave (Toledo)."
"That is why we purchased the land in Monclova," she said of 1,200 acres the city had secured for a new manufacturing plant to keep Jeep. "That was the intent, and he knew it. He knew I was going to do that. So that made a lot of difference."
Later, the new Jeep plant was built near I-75 in North Toledo and the Monclova Township land was developed for other projects.
Though Ms. Owens calls being "chastised" at the time for the land deal, "I look at it with great pride because there's so many companies out there now."
"And we get part of the tax base of it," she said of the joint economic development zone which was formed between Toledo, Maumee, and Monclova Township, an area that's a quick drive to Toledo Express.
Toledo Express was "absolutely" a large asset for the city's economic development efforts at the time, Ms. Owens recalled. "That was another plus in our toolbox," she said.
'Logistical advantages' to Toledo Express
Gary Thompson, vice president in charge of business development for the Toledo-based Regional Growth Partnership, considers Toledo Express to be "a great asset."
"Folks can come in and in and out," he said. "It has great training facilities, and it offers some great logistical advantages for products that are in a hurry, that need to come and go."
Mr. Thompson said that declines in passenger service at Toledo Express have not impeded any of the Regional Growth Partnership's development projects.
"We have not had any companies decide not to locate to northwest Ohio because of a lack of service at Toledo Express," he said. "And we find that corporate entities sometimes still see Toledo Express as an asset because they do have a full-service airport there that they can utilize whether it's with their corporate plane or shipments of things."
When it comes to passenger travel, he said, "the people of northwest Ohio, especially the Toledo metro area" are "choosing with their checkbook" and using Detroit Metropolitan-Wayne County Airport.
"I would say that northwest Ohio has the best air service of anywhere in the state of Ohio," Mr. Thompson said. "It just happens to be in Michigan. It's close enough to us that it can be utilized regularly, every day, routinely, all of those things."
Offering assurances
Discussing Mr. Harmon’s letter, Mr. Winston of the port authority said that engagement with the area business community could expand in a more formal setting to discuss ways it can assist.
“It will take a community,” Mr. Winston said.
“This has to be an effort by all,” he added.
Mr. Winston's comments also reflected the port authority's prior stance that the collapse of daily passenger service at Toledo Express was not the authority's fault. Mr. Winston cited industry data that 55 U.S. communities have lost service from commercial airliners since the start of the pandemic, highlighting "the magnitude of the situation" nationally and not limited to Toledo.
"We just need to continue to put ourselves in position to be able to seize an opportunity as it presents itself as it relates to service just like we did at the beginning of the year," he also said, citing the March addition of a seasonal flight between Toledo Express and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
That is "certainly a good win for our community, but I know that there needs to continue to be efforts on adding service, and our team is committed to that," Mr. Winston added.
Mr. Winston offered assurances that the port authority "will continue to engage with the airlines and particularly commercial airlines to discuss ways as the [business] climate changes, how we can best be in position to restore and regain those services.
"We're providing what I would call attractive proposals to entice them to come to Toledo," he said. "We'll continue to do it in the coming weeks and months as we have since the pandemic in an effort to attract and continue to add, just like we did earlier this year with the Phoenix route."
First Published August 14, 2022, 1:00 p.m.
