THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512140324
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Trans World Airlines broke ground in Norfolk earlier this month for a reservation center. Car-rental giant Avis is expected to employ 500 people when it opens a reservation center in Virginia Beach next year.
Now, ValuJet Airlines is considering Newport News for a reservation center, which would open in March with 100 workers and could later employ 500 people, said Alan Witt, chairman of the city's Industrial Development Authority.
Newport News is among several locations being considered for the center, Witt said.
``They're looking here because they have flight service here,'' he said.
The larger question is whether Hampton Roads is becoming a magnet for reservation centers similar to the way it tends to attract ``back office'' telemarketing and order fulfillment centers. The answer is a qualified ``no,'' according to Ann Baldwin, director of research for Forward Hampton Roads, the economic development arm of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
The back-office operations and reservation centers just happen to have similar staffing needs, Baldwin said.
``I think they have the same requirements as these labor-intensive service centers,'' she said of reservation centers. ``They need a deep labor pool of people and that's what this region has.''
Atlanta-based ValuJet, a low-fare, short-haul carrier, added service to Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport in July after the city of Newport News gave it more than $2 million.
Since then, the two-year-old company has added three routes and 600 employees, said spokeswoman Katie deNourie.
``We are looking to open a new center to keep up with the growth we anticipate,'' deNourie said.
She said she was uncertain what other cities ValuJet is considering for the new center.
In February, ValuJet opened a center in Savannah, Ga., after a search that included sites in Northern Virginia near Dulles International Airport, deNourie said. That facility and ValuJet's original reservation center in Atlanta employ 1,000 people and handle an average of 50,000 calls daily.
ValuJet does not participate in the airline industry's computer reservation service used by travel agents, deNourie said. Anyone who wants to book a flight - including travel agents - must call the company.
ValuJet expects to make its selection shortly after the first of the year, deNourie said.
``We kind of do everything in a quick turnaround.''
The company is looking to sign a six-year lease for at least 15,000-square-feet in a vacant building, city officials said. MEMO: Staff writer Lon Wagner and the Associated Press contributed to this
report. by CNB