(light string music) ♪ - My guest is Mark Gibbs, Director of Aviation for the San Bernardino International Airport.

Thanks for joining us.

- Thanks for having me.

I'm excited to talk to you today, Lillian.

- So, soon, the San Bernardino International Airport, will have a new airline flying passengers in and out of San Bernardino.

Will you share first about the history of the San Bernardino International Airport?

Kinda where it started, and then, how it is to this point?

- You bet.

So, this SBD International Airport was historically the Norton Air Force Base.

And going back in history a little bit, there was what was called, from the federal level, the Base Realignment and Closure Acts, commonly referred to as BRAC.

And it was really a realignment of the way that the United States deployed their military assets.

And when that occurred, it started under the former, I guess, the first Bush administration and continued, and was effectuated under the Clinton administration.

From that process, the Norton Air Force Base, which is today, again, SBD International Airport.

It was actually the first airport to close under the BRAC process.

And in our case, that meant in 1992.

That's when that transition initially occurred.

- And so 1992, long time ago.

What did they do?

And, how did they survive, or keep things going to make it what it is today?

Obviously, we have some new things to talk about.

But I wanna know how the International Airport has been there a while, and what did it do to sustain itself, and to keep going?

- You bet.

And, you know, there was not a great template for that transition back then.

So again, yeah.

I had a lot less gray hair back in 1992!

(Lillian laughing) Not bad, myself.

But, it was a long road.

I like to divide it into chapters.

And that first chapter, was really about transferring the property.

You know, the military gave up a big property and they had a difficult time doing it.

Military is not accustomed to things like you know, transferring property deeds.

And, it was a big process.

So, what that meant was there were a lot of lawyers in a room, and they worked on transferring the property but none of that could happen until all of the environmental remediation had taken place.

And, that was a long process!

There was 10 years of cleaning up the property, and also, all the legal legwork that was required to transfer the deed and all the easements that came along with it.

So, that first chapter as I like to call it, was about 10 years.

And the second 10 years, once the property was transferred, then it was a matter of rebuilding it.

And, that rebuilding meant big infrastructure projects.

So, that meant replacing the runway, which is a big project.

It was a $35 million project.

- Wow.

- It also meant rehabilitating taxiways, putting the air traffic control tower back in service, rewiring the airfield, rehabilitating all the large hangars, constructing a domestic terminal, constructing an international terminal, constructing an executive terminal, rebuilding a fuel farm.

Really large and big, significant investments that took a lot of money and frankly, a lot of time.

So, that was really the second chapter in the Aviation's redevelopment process.

That's when I joined the airport.

I joined in 2003, as an operations officer, and have worked my way up since that time.

But then the third chapter, once all of the aviation assets were in place.

There wasn't a lot of activity at the airport, whether it was business activity, or whether it was flight activity.

And so the third chapter, which began in about 2014, was about getting that message out, that the doors were open for aviation business at SBD.

And during that time period, we took a hard look at ourselves and thought, 'who do we wanna be when we grow up?'

And then, we began to take a strategic approach to building the necessary markets that an airport of this size would need to grow and flourish over time.

And, that began about 2014.

Since that time, we've had a lot of aviation activity moved to the airport, 'cause there's a lot of great advantages to SBD that we can talk about a little more in the future.

But now, we're entering into the fourth chapter, which is commercial airline passenger service.

- Alight, I'm gonna hold you there because I wanna get to that.

I wanna go back about some of these other chapters first.

So, from a civilian perspective, longtime resident, it looks to us like there was nothing going on, right?

And I'm sorry to say that, but that's what it looked like from my perspective, and I'm sure many others' perspective.

Like, 'what's going on over there?

It's never doing anything.'

And, you know, your first 10 years, it really looked like nothing was going on.

And then the next 10 years, the most I would see is if I went to a nonprofit event, and they use the facility as an event center to hold, you know, some events.

And that's when I would see it, and I'm thinking, what's going on here?

Is anything moving?

Again, from my perspective, not involved in the everyday thing.

So, come to- so in 1992 to 2014, it's a long time.

Who was paying?

And, how were things getting done?

And who, you know, give me a little bit of that, so the community understands what was going on in the financial aspect of it.

- You bet.

And, that's a fair assessment.

When I took the job here in 2003, one of my brothers laughed at me and asked me if they're gonna have enough money to pay me!

(Lillian chuckles) - No joke, right?

- He wasn't all that wrong!

Yeah, it was a difficult time for the airport.

But, not just the airport; it was a difficult time for the entire community surrounding the airport.

- Right.

- When the Air Force Base closed, over 10,000 jobs were lost.

It was a bit of a local depression.

You know, during the military days, so much industry had built up around the airport, to support the Norton Air Force Base.

And when it closed, it was devastating to the community.

So, when the airport transferred, all of the airport property itself was- that went to the airport authority, the newly created airport authority.

Which is, what's called a "joint powers authority."

So, the property itself is owned by the city of San Bernardino, the city of Colton, the city of Loma Linda, the city of Highland, and the county of San Bernardino.

Those are the five joint owners of the property.

And the charge of the airport was to bring back aviation activity and to operate it as a commercial airport facility.

But the other entity that was born, was a separate and distinct joint powers authority.

And that's called the Inland Valley Development Agency.

And, they took all of the non-airport property to redevelop and bring back jobs to the community that were lost.

We're very proud to say in 2016, we finally brought back more jobs that were lost.

- Nice!

- And as late as 2020, we don't have the full year numbers for 2021-- but in 2020, that number had reached 14,421 permanent jobs brought back.

And, that's primarily from the business community that surrounds the airport, that was part of the Norton Air Force Base property, right?

So, the airport authority is what everyone would associate with the airport today.

It's got a big fence around it!

It's the airport property.

(Lillian chuckles) But what brought back to jobs, was the Inland Valley Development Agency.

And, their sole goal was to bring back economic activity to the region.

And, they've done a great job making that happen.

But, you're right!

For many years, it appeared as though there was nothing happening at the airport.

And, we kinda gained that reputation for a while.

But again, that's where the strategic thinking came into place.

Because during all that building period that no one from the outside could see what was actually happening on the inside.

- Right.

- We're focusing on bringing back aviation activity.

And so that messaging, was really business to business messaging.

Because if you don't have a commercial passenger airline, then you have not a lot to focus on the local communities - Right.

- as to what's happening at the airport, but we were gaining a lot of traction, in the aviation community.

- So, let me ask you about that.

So, passengers?

Not yet; coming.

But cargo was going in and out, right?

So, did that kind of start the runways getting hot?

- Yeah!

So, that's a great question.

So, we essentially have five business lines on the airport.

Air cargo, corporate aviation, general aviation, maintenance operators, and now commercial passenger service.

It's kind of aligned with I think, most commonly, like a Long Beach.

Long Beach has all that large suite of services.

And that's kinda how, you know, SBD is, as well.

So, one of the four of our business lines, have been very successful over the last six years.

- Okay.

- And, the one that people see the most is air cargo.

So, in 2017, UPS joined us.

That was really our first cargo service.

And, they found a lot of success.

So, they entered into a lease agreement in 2018.

We had quickly become their largest gateway in Southern California in just four-- was really three short years.

And so they have a hub at Ontario, and then they have gateways at all the other commercial airports in Southern California.

In just, being in that market for three years, SBD became their largest gateway in Southern California with more activity than LAX, Long Beach, and John Wayne combined, right?

So, they found a lot of success here.

On the heels of that, FedEx came later in 2018, and entered into a long-term agreement.

And right on the heels of that, Amazon Air joined us in 2020, establishing a new hub at the airport.

- Right.

So, that's really taken off.

And that's, in my mind, from my perspective, that's kinda sustaining it and keeping it going and building, for sure.

But now I wanna talk about, what we really came to talk about!

And, that's the fact that the airport will soon have passenger traveling.

And, you've partnered with Breeze Airways.

Share a little bit about Breeze Airways and their history, and why they have become your partner.

- You bet.

We're really excited to partner with Breeze.

They're a fairly new airline.

They began operating in April of 2021.

- That's really new!

(Lillian laughs) That's not just fairly new.

- It's pretty new, yeah!

And, we were part of their West Coast announcement, that just occurred on March 8.

So, they started on the East Coast, with their primary location in Florida.

And they recently announced 30 new city pairs that included SBD.

So, SBD will begin operating with Breeze Airlines on August 4, and the initial route is between here and San Francisco.

And, that's daily.

So, it'll be 8AM departure from SBD, arriving at San Francisco at 9:30, and then turning around at 10:10 and arriving back in San Bernardino at noon.

- So, clearly-- - We are very excited.

- a person is gonna stay the night or the assumption is they're gonna stay in San Francisco for a couple of days because otherwise, there's no flight going back except for the 10:10.

Just literally the aircraft is turning around and going back, right?

- That's right.

That's right.

Of all the other markets that Breeze announced of the 30, San Bernardino was actually the only one that has daily service out of that announcement.

So, we're pretty excited about that.

We think it's a great thing and will hopefully lead to more service in the future.

I mean, the reality is, the Inland Empire is the most underserved market in the entire United States.

We're the 13th largest at almost 5 million people in population.

Yet the number of seats available in this market is, I mean, Oklahoma, (Lillian laughs) has more passenger seats available to them than the Inland Empire.

Which forces everyone to drive to, you know, long drive times to LA.

I mean, I like LAX.

But the reality is, you'd never quite know in Southern California, how long it's gonna take you to get there.

And, that's difficult.

The Inland Empire needs more travel options.

- Well, I would see that the LAX wouldn't necessarily be your competition.

Although they can get lower prices, but the commute is, for some, just not worth it.

We do have Ontario International Airport, and I would see them as a little bit more of your competition in this Inland Empire region.

But having a second one in the area, certainly isn't going to hurt us.

Why was San Francisco selected as the destination?

- You know, airlines take a really hard look at market pairs and which ones make the most sense for them.

And, we're excited about San Francisco for a lot of reasons.

It's a destination for businesses; it's a destination for families that want to take a vacation.

And, you can get-- it's a gateway to the entire world.

So, you can get anywhere from San Francisco, as well.

So, we really like that market.

We think it makes a lot of sense.

There are others that makes sense as well, but out of the gate, for San Francisco to hit on all of those notes, we think is great for travelers' options.

- Now, you mentioned that Breeze Airlines was a relatively new airline, 2021.

But it also has the history with JetBlue, right?

I guess, the owner?

- Yeah!

Yeah, it does.

We're really excited about Breeze.

They offer a great product.

And, I love their slogan.

Their whole slogan is, we're gonna be nice to people.

And, it's a mantra with them.

They really do care about their customers and they're nice to them.

And yet, they've got a low price point.

So, they're affordable fares.

The initial fares are $49 to San Francisco, which we think is attractive for everyone in the region, particularly with new service.

But David Neeleman is a bit of a legend in the aviation industry.

This is the fifth airline that he's founded.

One of the most common names that people associate him with is JetBlue Airways, which he founded.

As well as Morris Air, WestJet, up in Canada, and Azul, down in Brazil.

So, he's got a long-- - Right.

So, he's - not new in the game - tradition of success.

- He's been around.

And, that's what I was trying to establish; that Breeze has some history-- - Yeah.

- and some family behind it, for sure.

The price is low, for now.

With the fuel costs as they are, how long do you anticipate, or do they anticipate, whoever's setting the prices, that they can sustain that, with the way fuel prices are?

And, you need more bodies to get on the plane so they're not empty.

So, what's the plan?

- Yeah, fuel prices are an important input for airlines.

There's no two ways about it.

It's a big part of their cost.

But you know, if you're thinking about either driving to San Francisco, all of a sudden, you know, spreading those costs.

And I mean, if you're talking about a $49 fare to San Francisco-- I don't know if it's going to change based on fuel prices, but I can tell you, it starts to look more attractive to fly than to drive to San Francisco.

- And, I think sometimes the hassle of driving somewhere, sitting in the airline, or the airport waiting, sometimes a drive or flight can take like four or five hours!

(chuckles) And, you can drive there in about seven.

Now with gasoline prices the way they are, this is a great option.

And because the airport won't be heavily busy, I'm guessing that you know, the wait time won't be so great.

How will you get those initial people on that first flight?

Who will be on that flight?

- Well, you know, we like to think "it's a Breeze", Lillian!

(both laughing) (chuckles) But that's one of the advantages of having a local airport available to residents throughout the Inland Empire.

You know, you don't have to deal with long travel times to airports that are outside of the region.

The whole point of San Bernardino to San Francisco is, it's a local market.

It's close to home, without a lot of gridlocked traffic.

So, instead of having that long block time, or yeah!

Maybe, it does make sense.

If you have to drive two to three hours to LAX, call it, and then take an hour flight, before you know it, you've matched it with your car time.

But if you've got a airport that is, you know, 20 minutes from your house?

Now all of a sudden, that equation starts to make sense to fly to San Francisco from San Bernardino.

- Right.

Are there other locations on the horizon?

Destinations?

- We certainly hope so.

- So, this is our first; it needs to be successful.

And you know, if it is, we think there's gonna be more.

I mean, the industry is watching.

Other carriers are watching.

We recognize that.

Breeze recognizes that.

But, you know, we have to prove the success.

This is our first market and it's important to us.

And, we think San Francisco is the right market for them.

And, we're doing everything that we can as the airport to make that travel experience a really good one.

And, that includes our parking rates.

I mean, my goodness, it's $5 to park at San Bernardino!

That's a pretty good deal.

- $5 a day?

- $5 a day.

- Okay.

Because this is your first agreement, can I ask, how many years you guys are in this agreement for?

So, we have an idea, looking forward.

Is it a three-year, five-year?

Can you share that?

- Yeah, we've got a two-year agreement, which is longer than most in the industry.

So, we're pretty excited about that.

It gives our market a bit of time to develop, and we're confident that it will.

Again, people need more travel options from the Inland Empire.

If you go back a few years, there used to be a lot more service from the Inland Empire to the Bay Area.

A lot of that's evaporated while the population has increased by 25% over the last dozen years.

So, we think there's a lot of options to get people out of the cars and make that experience, you know, more convenient, more accessible.

- How will the airport engage in the community to let the community know?

I know it's shows like this, but what's on the game plan for your team to let people know that this is an option, that this is here, and it's right here in our own backyard?

What's the game plan there?

- You bet.

Getting the word out is really important to us.

People haven't historically looked for San Bernardino when they're considering their travel options by air.

And, we recognize we have to get that message out.

And, we're gonna be doing that.

A little closer into the flight, we're in the planning stages of getting that message out in a big way.

When people are closer to making that choice, that decision, you know, when and where they're going to fly from.

So, to get to Breeze's site, people can visit sbdairport.com and we've got a link to them on our website.

Buying a Breeze ticket, you don't go to Travelocity or Orbitz.

They like to keep their fees as low as they can.

So, it's similar to Southwest in that respect.

Southwest, the only way to buy a ticket on Southwest is to go to their website.

Breeze is the same way, which is flybreeze.com.

But again, they focus on keeping the fares as attractive as they can, yet offering a passenger experience that's really good.

We think they're the right carrier for San Bernardino, 'cause that's kind of in our DNA.

Customers' matters, and such.

- So, there are other airlines out there, that are not costly to fly, but the-- Spirit being one of them.

But, doesn't have the best reputation for customer service.

So, maybe that's-- 'cause cost is an important thing.

I like cost, but I also like good customer service.

I like to be welcomed or treated politely when I'm on someone's aircraft!

(chuckles) - You bet.

And so do we, Lillian.

And, that's an important focus to us.

I think one of the things that people will find traveling on Breeze is, David Neeleman has a long history of providing good service on the products that he's offered.

And, that holds true for all of his airlines that he's ever established.

Customers matter, and he recognizes that.

That's one of the reasons we're excited to work with him.

We think that's a great fit for SBD as well, because I'm with ya!

We all like to be treated well.

And, we're so happy that they recognize that.

- Let me ask you in our last few minutes together kinda the financial impact that you expect to see.

Will you be staffing up, so you have the staff to accommodate this in August?

What will be the economic impact for our community that you anticipate?

- You bet.

So, the economics of airlines are pretty significant.

It's different than, say, cargo or maintenance organizations, which are very labor-intensive.

We brought a lot of jobs back to the airport, about 4,500 are working on the airport today.

Which is really exciting.

Airlines offer a different impact, though.

Instead of it being jobs-focused on the airport, it's really the passengers that come through and need a hotel to stay at, or go to local restaurants, or go to the local things that there are to do in the community, whether that's the mountain communities or the downtown areas throughout the Inland Empire.

You know, it's not a spend "on" the airport; it's really a spend "around" the airport-- [Lillian] I see.

- that helps lift all those boats.

And that's one of the reasons we're really excited about it.

It's a great thing for the community.

Brings travelers here and keeps local dollars, local.

- Okay.

Now, here's a question you might not particularly like, (she chuckles) but I'm gonna ask it!

Talk to me about air quality and the community around it.

Where have the battles been?

Or, where are the talks about this?

- Yeah, you bet.

Whenever we have the opportunity to invest in clean energy, we always do.

So at our terminal, for example, when it was constructed, which was a decade ago, it had-- we had solar, then!

We've done it at several of our buildings.

We're early adopters, in that respect.

As well as our executive terminal.

We invest in clean energy there.

As well as our requirements with Amazon Air.

They were the first carrier in the world, the first cargo carrier in the world to have an all-electric fleet.

And, that was a huge investment on their side.

So, whenever we can invest in green energy, whenever we can influence our partners to invest in green energy, that's important to us.

It's important to California.

And frankly, it's good business at the same time.

- And lastly, where is the location?

I know we talk overall of the scope of it's the former Norton Air Force Base, but where, specifically?

How do we get there?

- Yeah, you bet.

So, the good news about San Bernardino Airport, is it's accessible by north, south, east and west.

We're two miles from any given freeway entrance.

So, the location of the terminal is 105 North Leland Norton Way.

And it's accessible, it's most readily accessible off of Tippecanoe Avenue.

Take that to Harry Shepard, and you'll be able to enter right into the airport from there.

So, we're trying to make it fast, easy and convenient.

So, yeah.

We're super excited about it!

- What would you say it's near?

It's kind of close to the Stater Brothers Corporation, not too far from there, if people know that.

I just feel like it's kind of back in there and people might not know where it is, other than when they say the former Norton Air Force Base.

- Yeah, you bet.

And we're investing in roadway signs to help that traveling distance, - OK!

(she laughs) - so it's easier to find.

We're also upgrading the roadway system within the airport to make it easier to find, and more convenient.

So, yeah.

We recognize, again, we're a new airport people may not be accustomed to driving to!

(Lillian chuckles) Fortunately, most of us rely on the maps on our phones to get places, or maybe that's just me!

- True, true!

- I don't know.

- No!

- But, we are making the investments in signage to help people, the wayfinding, to get to the airport.

- Okay.

Mark Gibbs is the Director of Aviation for the San Bernardino International Airport.

Mark, thanks so much for your time.

And, I hope everything flies away!

- Lillian, thanks so much.

We look forward to seeing you passing through the terminal here in the near future, as well.

♪ - [Announcer] This program was originally produced for 91.9 KVCR Radio.

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