If nonstop air service between Salt Lake City and London becomes a reality, the Salt Lake business community may have to pay an annual subsidy until the flights become self-sustaining, a member of the Utah Air Travel Commission said Tuesday.
Attorney Robert Campbell told members of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce's board of governors the amount of the possible subsidy is unknown at this time because negotiations are still going on between Salt Lake City and British Airways over how many seats would be filled each day on the nonstop flights.Campbell said Phoenix recently guaranteed a $500,000 first-year subsidy for nonstop flights between that city and London via British Airways and he expects that once Salt Lake City gets similar service a subsidy would be required to ensure the service is suc-cessful.
Mayor Deedee Corradini said there is disagreement between figures supplied by two consultants hired by the city in London to present Salt Lake City's case for nonstop service and figures from British Airways on how many seats will be filled in the airplanes.
She is confident that once both sides can agree on the figures the only item holding back the nonstop service will be the amount of the subsidy. Corradini said the Salt Lake International Airport already has the capacity to handle the large airplanes that would be flying between the two cities and also the customs capacity.
Campbell and Corradini likened the attempt to get nonstop service between Salt Lake City and London with the move of the New Orleans Jazz to Salt Lake City. They said the new air service will stimulate activity between the two cities with business and tourist travel.
Corradini and several other officials recently went to London to confer with British Airways officials after twice being rebuffed by Delta Air Lines for nonstop service between Salt Lake City and London. She was very emphatic that she did not go for social reasons but to conduct serious business about the nonstop air service.
Campbell said the two major airports in London are fast running out of landing times and gates. He said if nothing happens soon, Salt Lake City may be shut out of nonstop service to London for many years.
He said there is a possibility of combining London traffic from surrounding areas, like Las Vegas, and then leaving from Salt Lake City for the nonstop flight to London.
Twenty-five years ago, Campbell said, Salt Lake City was vying for nonstop air service to Washington, D.C., and New York City, and the air carriers were uncertain about the idea. Now, of course, the flights are a reality, and the service to London is in the same position as the cross-country flights were then.