Better floors may improve standing of Mobile airport

MOBILE, Alabama -- Bill Sisson spent last week answering questions about a planned upgrade of flooring at Mobile Regional Airport.

As in, "Why would you?"

Sisson, executive director of the Mobile Airport Authority, said people questioned the wisdom of the $790,000 project, suggesting instead that the money could somehow be used to drive down ticket costs at Mobile Regional, where average fares are among the highest in the country. (Not possible, by the way. The flooring project is paid from a pool of money restricted to airport terminal improvements.)

So why would the airport spend money to swap old carpet for tile?

Sisson said the authority did extensive surveys soon after he took the job as executive director in 2008, trying to gauge public impressions of Mobile Regional, whose M.C. Farmer Terminal was built in 1984.

When something along the lines of "sorta shabby" was the public reply, Sisson said he had one of the goals that continues to guide the authority's work -- developing "clean, efficient, modern facilities" to improve the airport's standing with travelers.

Mobile Regional Airport will top 600,000 passengers this year, Sisson said. Those folks will come and go on an average 50 daily flights through four airlines -- the merging Continental/United, Delta Air Lines, U.S. Airways and American Airlines.

About 60 percent of those travelers will be on business trips, which is a factor in Mobile's average fare. Business travelers typically pay more because they book closer to departure dates. And because they've got to make a trip to make money, they're more price-tolerant than leisure travelers.

Boyd Group International, a Colorado aviation consulting firm, told the Press-Register last week that the average one-way ticket from Mobile, including taxes and fees, was $269.60 in the last three months of 2010, seventh-highest among the country's 175 largest airports. The firm also measures cost per mile, where Mobile was sixth-highest at 21.88 cents per mile, which was nearly 50 percent higher than the national average.

The airport also likes to track its average lowest domestic fares. It takes the lowest cost paid on any given day by a passenger in or out of Mobile, then averages those numbers. According to the airport, the lowest average fare at Mobile Regional in both May and June was within $10 or less of the same average at either Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport or Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport.

Flooring Tile

Understanding Floor Tiles – Kalafrana Ceramics Tiles Sydney

Floors tiles can be one of the most misunderstood goods on the marketplace.  There are distinct formats, textures, glazes and materials to select from.  At Kalafrana Ceramics Sydney showroom, we take our time to make certain that clients are totally conscious of all the pros and cons of there option of floor tile. Floors can be classified as glazed and vitrified, with either a matt, honed or polished finish. 

Glazed tiles can come with either a clay/ceramic body or a porcelain body with a difficult wearing coating applied to it.  These tiles are durable, need no ongoing maintenance or sealing, effortless to clean, higher scope in style and look, and most expense powerful.  They typically come in matt, satin and gloss finishes for walls and matt/satin finishes for floors.  A semi polished lapato version is also being introduced.  Fantastic for all internal applications be it wall or floor. 

Vitrified tiles are a porcelain-based body with hardly any porosity.  They are an incredibly hardwearing, durable surface.  The solid colors and dotted (salt and pepper) range are true vitrified tiles with the identical color via the body.  The lines with any movement or design in the leading face are generally double charged – exactly where the design is only on the top layer, with a comparable base underneath.  The benefit of vitrified tiles is that they can come in matt, honed, textured (outdoor), and polished finishes.  The key drawback is as the tile has no actual glaze they can be harder to clean in the matt finish, and may demand sealing in the honed or polished version. 

A new product from Spain is the glass coated range of tiles.  They are a porcelain tile with a glaze, then a final glaze of glass.  As the glass is polished, not the tile as in a typical polished porcelain, there is no need for sealing as no pin holes open up on the polishing stage.  Also as it is a glaze print, the manufacturers can imitate stone to such a degree it is hard to tell the distinction to the actual thing.  The glass finish also gives a higher shine and adds depth to the shine.  These are ideal exactly where a client wants polished stone(marble, travertine, and so on) but does not want the maintenance necessary with the genuine product. 

So as you can see there are a few issues to consider.  When you check out our showroom we take the time to go by means of all the above with you – so you make the right selection, and pick a tile that suits you.

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