Puhlease....Chiquita left Cincitucky for one reason only.....the $22Million in tax breaks, subsidies, and grants that the State and local government offered in North Carolina. Throw in the estimated $4Million per year in savings on rent and local costs that Chiquita has predicted, and this was a no-brainer. BTW, Cincinnati wasn't even second in the running. Chiquita was also courting Boca Raton FL who was offering $15M in incentives...Cincy was only offering $7M....they never stood a chance.

It's not like Chiquita has been in Cincy forever, they only moved there about 20 years ago when a local guy bought them and moved them from NYC. When that guy died, they tried to leave the city in 2005 but were offered enough sweeteners to stay. Besides, most of Chiquita's flying would be to Latin and South America (particularly Costa Rica)....even at our height, I don't remember CVG having much if any of those routes. The downscaling of CVG may have played a minscule role in their decision to leave, but in the end it comes down to money...and blaming the airport is a good PR way for Chiquita to downplay it's greed and desire to go for the highest bidder.

 

Guys,

I think the flaw in the above line of thinking is "per capita." If a very small town has two Fortune 500 numbers its per capita numbers would be skewed high. While CVG is not that small - it is not that big of a market either.

Besides DAL does not even like LAX - the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the country. Its either ATL or everything else. Although I believe DAL may have finally realized that NYC (largest metropolitan area) might be worth fighting for - although its no ATL.

Scoop

 

True, but you are way underestimating the built in idiocy of the "system." If you were a responsible steward of the tax payers dollars you were rewarded with a budget cut the next FY. Oh and your CO probably got eaten alive by the wing commander for "under-executing."

The military was this way for decades and eventually most guys just gave up and just went along. A few years ago the military started showing signs of change - anyone currently flying wish to chime in?

Scoop

 

Correct. That place rocked, and Bahama Breeze was right across the street.

Scoop

 

Cold and miserable is an understatement! I've been up there for a couple of months now and it is not easy by any means. However, the amount of money that you can make up there is crazy so I really don't care how cold and miserable it is. There are guys up there making more in one month than you can make at Delta all year. It literally is a modern day gold rush. Until you've been up there, you really don't understand what is going on.

 

Just down the road at the main intersection there's a place called Hurricane Grill and Wings.....not bad on a warm evening. lots of different wing flavors, and as I recall, a two for one Happy Hour.

As a rule, I try to never go to any Hotel Bar/Restaurant. I don't need any more $12 dried out Chicken sandwiches or the standard massive selection of two draft beers for 7 bucks a pop.

 

Wow! WTH is going on up there?!

 

We could ask Dakota Fred!

 

They are building pipelines to rail depots right now, but that will take them a few years to finish so the crude haulers are good for awhile. The guys making all the money with trucks are hauling water to frac with, frac sand, and belly dumps to build roads. That won't stop until the drilling stops which will go west into Montana and last up to 10 years if the EPA doesn't shut down fracing. The oil companies don't care what it costs, they just want the crude coming out of the ground so they are paying crazy amounts of money to get these wells finished very quickly before the EPA shuts them down. Might go for another 6 months or could go for 10 years if the governemnt stays out of the way, but in the mean time the money grab is on in a big way right now.

 

That dude is awesome! The History Channel needs a show up in ND right now. There are some cool cats up there that would make an awesome show.