In March, a group of Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation airport initiative leaders and I met with airlines in Florida at Network USA, the largest route planning and networking event in North America. 
Now, we’re taking our outreach to the next level by heading to California on June 5 and 6 for the aviation industry’s premier airport-airline marketing event. It’s called the JumpStart Air Service Development Program.
Known as a “speed dating” program for airlines, JumpStart is designed to bring airports and airlines together. The event provides an opportunity to present our air service proposal at second one-on-one meetings with airline decision-makers. More than 27 airlines and 150 airports will be attending the conference, which is sponsored by Airports Council International – North America.
The goal of our meetings is to pique the interest of carriers in order to secure meetings at the airlines’ headquarters. A main focus of our case for air service will be the Greater St. Cloud community’s support. We’ve made great strides toward our goal of $5 million in partnership agreements from businesses and people committed to buying tickets from a potential air carrier. So far, 237 partners have committed more than $4,720,000 million to using the STC-ORD leg during its first year of service.
The JumpStart program will be key in advancing our efforts to attract air service, and we need the entire community to help us make our case for air service at next month’s conference. Download a partnership agreement today and join our mission of making Greater St. Cloud one of the best places to live and work in America!
