“This will be a free service to our passengers,” airport spokeswoman Linda Hughes said.
Airlines have supported it in past years, she said.
The new offering will not be a curbside check-in service, said Iftikhar Ahmad, Dayton’s director of aviation who oversees the city-owned airport. That ended in March when Delta Air Lines, the last airline funding such service in Dayton, halted it. Delta said it wasn’t worth the continuing expense because only about 3 percent of Delta’s passengers were using curbside check-in.
The airport will bear the $48,000 annual cost of the courtesy porter, Ahmad said. He had tried to interest the airlines in supporting it, but they weren’t willing to in the belief that not enough passengers wanted it, Ahmad said.
He said the airport has received some complaints, or at least requests for a courtesy porter, and has chosen to provide it as a customer service. Ahmad acknowledged that most passengers are unlikely to use it.
Plans call for offering the skycap service seven days a week, from about 4 a.m. until about 8 p.m., or when the last flight of the day departs, Hughes said. Flight Services & Systems, a Cleveland-based company, will provide the service under contract.
Delta still believes that there isn’t enough customer interest to resume curb service in Dayton, spokeswoman Susan Elliott said Wednesday, Sept. 9.
AirTran Airways, one of Dayton’s busiest carriers along with Delta, said it has no plans for a curbside service.
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