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Website for the Durango-La Plata County Airport
Proposed Website Content and Layout
Home Page
An airport’s home page is a balance between aesthetics and information. Information should be either on
the homepage itself or a single click away. We propose a scroll-over menu of each of the sections that will
drop down into a list of every page in that section. The titles of each section (as per your recommendation
at the end of the RFP) will be industry standard, which will make the site in a form easy to navigate. This
type of layout provides a well-sorted large amount of information all a single click away.
We propose widgets built into the homepage in a way to be integrated and useful while not disturbing the
aesthetics. Widgets are small add-ins from other websites that allow users to access information from the
first website, in this case flydurango.com. This is a listing of widgets/add-ins from the RFP we are planning
to use, as well as our recommendations.
• Weather
An add-in that will provide up to the minute weather in Durango.
From www.weather.com
•
Airfare Watchdog
This is a good tool in marketing the low cost of flying out of any particular airport. However, the
advertised airfares are a lot of times available only to the most flexible travelers, so if you have
dates & times in mind, airfare watchdog may not be helpful.
From www.airfarewatchdog.com
•
Airfare Search Tool
From www.kayak.com
It is an airfare search engine that searches other travel sites, and is considered to be the most
comprehensive search engine online. We recommend this over a search engine that appears to be
on the airport website (no matter where the information is coming from) because airports are not
perceived as an authority on airfare information. A well-known third-party agent (kayak) will be
more trusted than an in-house search engine.
Another idea we can add to the DRO website is a comparison calculator. This tool can give an estimate of
costs between flying directly out of DRO or driving to a large city and flying out of there. Customers in
many cases will be persuaded to fly out of Durango after finding out it can be cheaper than paying gas for
the 300+ mile journey to Denver or 200+ mile journey to Albuquerque. The calculator can figure in time
spent driving as well and give a range as an answer based on a vehicle’s miles per gallon efficiency. It can
also be a simple flash or scroll screen that will give random comparisons. See below what it could look like
on the Durango Airport site.
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Website for the Durango-La Plata County Airport
Airport News
This should be a continuously updated list of headlines that are in reference to the airport. Any master plan
progress, airport emergencies and closures, carrier service announcements, or any other news worth
displaying should be placed here. Links from the headlines can lead to an internal airport news page as well
as articles printed in other online news sources. Both this news ‘box’ and news page will be easily updated
by airport staff.
Flight Information
Real Time Flight Information (FIDS)
Flight Tracking and Airport Delays Information
This will be an online version of an airport’s arrival and departure screen (FIDS). The one from
www.flightview.com currently used by DRO is the one we will recommend. The examples on the above
webpage can all be applied to Durango. In addition to the FIDS display, we recommend the Flight Tracker
and Airport Delays tools to also be added. Flight Tracker is an informative tool that many users will try to
find on other websites if they do not find it here. It will either be on a website such as
www.flightaware.com or the airline’s own website. If they are already looking for flight information on
Durango Airport’s website, it is a good idea to provide a flight tracker along with it. However, this
application is not essential. Another important application to consider is airport delays. DRO’s passengers
are both O&D to Phoenix and Denver, as well as connecting passengers. A large amount of connecting
passengers are often interested in airport delay information because they will be connecting through one or
multiple hubs throughout their journey. Providing this information can prove useful to your customers.
Flight Schedule
This should be a total listing of scheduled flights by United, Frontier and USAirways. This is a section that
will be easily updated by airport staff. It is suggested that airport staff update this manually as opposed to
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Website for the Durango-La Plata County Airport
letting airlines update their own schedules on your website. This page will be interlinked to the FIDS
display page to show real-time information. The user will be able to sort the page by arrival time, departure
time, airline, and flight number. Many users come to search for information knowing only partially what
they are looking for. The ability to sort will let them organize information in a way that they can find what
they need in an efficient manner.
Airline Links + Information
Providing links to each of the airlines serving DRO is important. Each “link” will also have information on
each carrier’s service. For example: United Airlines and United Express provide service to their hub at
Denver International Airport 5 times daily with CRJ-200 and Dash 8 aircraft. United Airlines and its
partners give Durango customers access to 975 destinations in 162 countries. (Based on Star Alliance,
United Airlines and Denver Airport websites) An example of how this will look and the information
provided can be found on Northwest Arkansas’ (XNA) website. (http://www.nwara.com/travel/airlines.asp)
Airport Information
Maps & Driving Directions
The most adequate solution would be to use a mapquest, google maps or similar product add-in. The page
itself will have the airport centered with a radius large enough to show major highways, as well as the city
of Durango and nearby ski resorts, Mesa Verde National Park, etc. A small sample of distances will be
displayed to the most popular destinations without the need to type anything into the directions search.
Frequently Asked Questions + Travel Tips
This is a text only page of information. A database of questions can be decided upon with the airport
authority by using industry standards. Answers to those questions will be provided once they are clicked
on. A link to the airlines and the TSA will be important here. We will use the assumption that these
questions are being asked by a novice flyer.
Security Information
This page needs to be a more formal presentation of the security-based FAQs. It will provide information
on TSA procedures, DRO’s compliance with national security guidelines. It will explain ‘threat levels’ as
well as display the current one. It will give tips on what to do if you see suspicious activity, unattended
bags, etc. This page will serve as a reminder to the traveling public to keep vigilant during their travels.
Special Needs
This page will give an explanation of services available to disabled passengers. It should make passengers
aware that airlines have policies on bringing wheelchairs etc, and give the appropriate links to each
airlines’ special needs page on their website.
Cell Phone Waiting Area
To describe plans of creation for Cell Phone car Waiting area.
Lost and Found
Explain airport procedures for lost and found as well as contact numbers, and contact numbers of airlines
lost and found numbers as well as local office phone numbers.
Free Wi-Fi
We suggest to create or use a small ‘free Wi-Fi’ logo and put it on every page of the airport website. It will
serve as a tool to market the service. Clicking on the logo or selecting “Free Wi-Fi” from the “Airport
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Website for the Durango-La Plata County Airport
Information” menu will lead to the page that explains its existence. It is not the norm for airports to offer
free Wi-Fi, so its advertisement throughout the website is important.
Related Links
A compilation of links from local governments, chambers, as well as airlines and other aviation resources.
This page will be well organized for ease of use.
Parking, Rental Cars, Ground Transportation
Lot Map + Rates
This can be a graphic of the airport terminal grounds and where the parking lot is located in reference to the
terminal. It will point out if there are different short term and long term lots as well as any handicapped
spots. Rates will be listed accordingly and will be updated regulary.
Rental Car Company Links
This will be a reference page to all rental car companies operating at the airport – similar in layout to the
‘Airline Links’ page – giving contact information.
Ground Transportation
Similar to Rental Car + Airline Links. This page will include every form of transportation serving the
airport. Taxis, shuttles, buses, etc.
Terminal Services
Terminal Layout + Services
We recommend that the website has a page with a layout of the terminal. Albeit not a large terminal, the
map will point out locations of any available services. This could be a good way to show locations of
emergency services such as heart defibulators.
Restaurant
Provide a link, possibly even menu, to the restaurant.
Gift Shop
The restaurant and gift shop locations should be prominent but could be combined into one page. Other
than their existence and a small description, there is little to be said about them.
General Aviation (GA) + Other Operators
Airport Information
A basic description of the airport; this would include runway length, elevation, FBOs, available
maintainence, fuel, etc. We recommend that this page not only be informative but also geared as a
marketing tool. As a General Aviation airport, Durango has a good amount of competition from nearby
Montrose County, Gunnison-Crested Butte, Farmington, and Telluride Airports. It is important to advertise
the GA services offered in an appealing manner to draw in traffic. According to
www.airnav.com/airport/KDRO all but 20% of the operations at DRO are GA operations. While this may
not make up a majority of passengers, it is important to provide as much information as possible to the
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Website for the Durango-La Plata County Airport
other 80% of operators. Many airports fail to provide sufficient information on their websites, forcing
operators to turn to other sources or worse, other airports.
Fixed Base Operators (and other GA-related businesses)
A list of FBO’s and other General Aviation related businesses similar to the airline page. It will list services
offered as well as contact information.
Hangars
Any information pertinent to hangar rental, overnight, etc. will be explained here as well as a listing of
providers. This may be more useful if combined into the FBO page.
GA References & Links
We would recommend putting a page dedicated to General Aviation links. Our suggestions are as follows:
- An FAA diagram of the field, this is a PDF file.
- A link to www.skyvector.com Durango area page displaying both VFR and IFR charts as
references.
- A link to Airnav.com DRO site which is useful to GA users.
- A link to aviation weather (NOAA) at (http://adds.aviationweather.noaa.gov )
About Us
Media/News
This page will be a listing of news articles in relation to the airport. There will be two kinds of ‘articles’ –
ones from other news sources and ones written by airport staff. A separate page should be created for each
airport news release. This is something airport staff will be able to do. All news articles and their links
should be archived on this page as well.
Business Opportunities
Any business related to the airport will be listed here. This will link to airport contact information, directed
to the appropriate representative.
Employment
This will be a listing of employment for the airport (City of Durango and La Plata County). We also
recommend that any businesses operating at the airport should be able to post or submit their openings.
Airlines, FBO’s, etc can post their local listings here. If hiring is done through the city or county, job
descriptions should still be given here with links to appropriate pages.
Organization
An explanation of the governing structure and management of the airport will be given. This will include
airport agendas and minutes, meeting dates, and any information that should be released to the public from
the governing body of the airport.
Master Plan Update
This page will depend on what form the master plan is created and updated in by the airport. The page will
have an overview of current situations as well as a link to the document if it is in Word or PDF format.
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Website for the Durango-La Plata County Airport
Airport Activity Statistics
This page will be a well organized facts section about the airport. Appropriate links would include the
Colorado Department of Transportation (http://www.colorado-aeronautics.org/durango.htm) and Airnav
(www.airnav.com/airport/KDRO).
History & Future Development
We recommend adding a section with history. If there are any historical photos they can be placed here,
with links to any area museums, etc. Progress of the airport can be interesting to some people and it would
be a good marketing tool to provide this information for anyone interested.
Contact Us
This will be a thorough list. We recommend breaking down as many people and departments on here as
possible and providing contact information, as well as a general contact. Provide a link to the “airlines”
page with local phone numbers in case people end up here looking for contacts of airlines.
Environment
We strongly recommend that you add a section to the website dealing with the environment. ‘Going green’
is an issue that is often on people’s minds – having a page that explains your efforts would, if anything, be
good will. A good starting point would be ACI-NA (Airport Council International – North America)’s
website. (http://www.aci-na.org/index/airportsyou_enviro). It explains the challenges airports face in
regards to protecting the environment. In addition, (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33949.pdf) points
out a lot of problems airports are having. Explaining your de-icing procedures, airport apron operations and
airport office policies for the environment is a good idea. Having a page that addresses these issues would
put DRO on par with where the aviation industry is headed in regards to the environment.
Other website recommendations
We recommend implementing a search bar, if viable, on every page. This would once again facilitate the
ease of information exchange.
We would suggest adding a page titled “Area Information” or “Visitor Information” with links to Hotels,
Attractions, etc. in this section.
In addition to the previous suggestion, from an organizational point of view it might be a good idea to
combine “Ground Transportation” with “Parking Information” in one section, and put the “Hotels” section
in the “Area Information” section. Hotels are an important thing to list on your website because many
travelers use hotels near an airport to jump-start their journey.
Please notice we recommend adding “other operators” to the “general aviation” section. This would be a
place to list any cargo and charter carriers that operate to Durango. In essence, anyone that operates to your
airport should be listed on your website for maximum exposure.
We would like to recommend participation in an add program. This could help offset some of the costs
incurred with keeping a website operational. One way to do this would be to advertise space on your
homepage for local businesses - there could be potential takers, especially those in the hospitality and
tourism industries. Another option would be to participate in Google's AdSense program. The amount you
get paid from AdSense depends on a lot of things, but most of the ads would be relative to the industry.
You can read about the program at (www.adsense.com).
One last recommendation is to have a site map with a list of every single page and topic, which will
provide access for those users who absolutely cannot find what they are looking for. All of the suggestions
on the layout given here are meant to reduce this type of occurrence, but are still bound to happen. The site
map will be a final safety net for those who fall through every other control.