According to a Dec. 21 memo from Long Beach Airport Director Cynthia Guidry to city leaders, revenue plunged $9 million below the budgeted level in the second quarter of 2020. With commercial flight activity still 80% below 2019 levels, revenue has not recovered.
Guidry said in the memo that an $18.4 million allocation from the federal CARES Act in May temporarily helped stabilize airport finances and allowed some terminal upgrade work to continue. But with no additional government aid coming, the airport has cut $6.5 million from its 2021 operating budget.
The lower revenue stream has also forced airport officials to reconsider selling new debt to finance the remainder of the $110 million second phase of the terminal improvement program, Guidry said in the memo.
The biggest piece of the unfinished second-phase work is $16 million to make over the ticketing lobby with more flexible ticketing counter space, additional self-service kiosks and more back-office ticketing space.
Guidry said the airport will make a final determination on whether to postpone or cancel the work on the ticketing lobby in April.
“Presently, the forecasts of travel demand are not favorable and remain very uncertain,” she said in the memo. “The Airport will evaluate its financial status and return to the City Council by April 2021 to make a determination to proceed, delay further, or cancel the remaining portions of the ticketing lobby (project).”
In the meantime, Guidry said in the memo that the airport has authorized the purchase of steel for the ticketing lobby project “as a prudent and relatively risk-free way to keep the ticketing lobby (project) moving forward.”
