SJC has a very good working working relationship with our carriers, and they were intimately involved in the planning of our $1.3 billion modernization project from the get-go (and which was completed ahead of schedule and under budget). They also participated in the planning and decision making in 2005 when we all agreed to reduce the scale of the project by $3 billion in accordance with fiscal reality at the time.

After all that we've done over the past several years to control costs to airlines and successfully stay within the CPE targets we set in 2007 lease agreement -- despite the drastic drop in enplanments -- our airline partners at SJC now hold us up as a sterling example of an airport's successful commitment to cost containment.

We can't wish away fixed costs (bond holders are funny that way), but we've been cutting expenses every other place we can so that we remain competitive and attractive. As noted before, the ratio of cost per enplanement is affected by both cost (airline rents and landing fees) and enplanements (out of our control), and the best answer we hope for is the return of flights and passengers along with economic recovery.

David Vossbrink, SJC Communications Director
[email protected]