BANGOR – The continued rise of fuel costs will affect smaller airports at a disproportionate rate, according to a local representative who was invited recently to join a federal task force created to address the problem.

Bangor International Airport Director Rebecca Hupp traveled last week to Washington, D.C., to participate in the first meeting of the American Association of Airport Executives’ Energy-Air Service Task Force.

“The idea is to try to determine the current impact [of high fuel prices] and to figure out what policies or changes in policies we can pursue,” Hupp said Monday. “I was very pleased to be asked to participate.”

Hupp is one of more than 70 airport executives asked by the American Association of Airport Executives to participate in its task force.

“As fuel prices rise, the aviation industry is undergoing dramatic changes that greatly impact airport operations and communities nationwide,” AAAE President Chip Barclay said in a recent press release. “By pulling together airport industry leaders from across the country to participate with this important task force, we intend to shine a light on the magnitude of the challenges and develop policy recommendations that will help airports and the aviation industry weather those challenges.”

The task force met for the first time on July 9. The next day U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and others met with a number of energy experts.

BIA’s director said one consensus in the industry is that the astronomic increase in fuel prices will affect smaller airports, like Bangor’s, at a higher rate.

However, what can be done to change a seeming inevitability is anyone’s guess.

“It’s the million dollar question,” Hupp said. “But I think Bangor is in a better financial position because our revenue is more diversified than many airports of our size.”

A pending comprehensive energy audit by the city of Bangor, the airport’s steward, should yield additional cost savings as well, she said.

No official goals or timetables were set at the federal task force’s initial meeting, but Hupp said the next step is an industrywide survey to gather as much information as possible.

“Right now, we’re doing a fair amount of listening,” she said.

erussell@bangordailynews.net

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