December 1, 2005 - December 14, 2005

By Lester Robinson

On Nov. 8, as the country voted, Detroit Metropolitan Airport welcomed AirTran Airways to begin daily nonstop service from the Motor City to Atlanta and Orlando and Sarasota beginning in February. Detroit becomes the 48th destination served in AirTran’s impressive network and was the largest city they had not yet served.

To celebrate its latest addition to their expanding business, AirTran teamed up with former Detroit Tiger great Kirk Gibson to hold an inaugural kickoff event at the airport. The former World Series champion spoke with great confidence and optimism about Detroit and the greater Detroit area. Addressing an audience at gate B-9, the formidable slugger revealed that no matter where he travels, he takes every opportunity to promote Detroit and Michigan.

One of the main priorities for the Wayne County Airport Authority Board has been to seek more air service for Metro, and over the past 15 months, our customers have found more choices when they travel.

Since last August, three other carriers, Independence Air, Air France and Frontier also have commenced new service at DTW; and let’s not ignore the fact that some of DTW’s longtime carriers, particularly Northwest Airlines, have added new destinations. AirTran will utilize Boeing 717 aircraft, with 105 seats in coach class and 12 in business class on its Detroit routes.

On behalf of our seven-member Authority Board and all DTW management and staff, I welcome AirTran Airways to Detroit!

• • •

It’s important for everyone on my team to strive for cost-saving measures and when WCAA departments take the initiative and go above and beyond their call of duty, then it is my feeling that they should be recognized for their efforts. The WCAA Procurement Division has made such an accomplishment.

For the third time in the last 10 years our Procurement Division has won the “Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award.” Presented by the National Purchasing Institute, this award was established to recognize organizational excellence in procurement and designed to measure innovation, professionalism, e-procurement, productivity, and leadership attributes of the purchasing function.

The Procurement Division oversees individual division purchases, contract compliance, and monitors contracts once a purchase of a product or service has been made. Due to the department’s conscientious attention to detail and their ability to manage contracts appropriately helped the Airport Authority save money. According to Renee Marsh, Director of Purchasing, it is a considerable amount.

The advantages of having a purchasing department solely responsible for making purchases on behalf of the airport is that it’s 100 percent centralized leaving little room for error. It also helps us consolidate purchases and provides us a higher level of value which enables us to receive better pricing — even with rising costs. In fact, comparing pricing to three years ago, while a majority of those costs have continued to rise, the airport has been able to sustain few increases.

I am very proud of the fine work our entire Procurement Division has accomplished.

Lester Robinson is CEO of the Wayne County Airport Authority, which oversees Metro and Willow Run airports.

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