Local officials intend to form a working group to oversee marketing efforts related to the new terminal at Niagara Falls International Airport.

That’s one of the recommendations made during a two-hour forum on airport development held Friday morning inside the airport’s new $31.5 million terminal off Niagara Falls Boulevard.

The gathering, coordinated by state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, brought together representatives from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, Seneca Gaming Corp., the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. and other agencies to begin the discussion about what the community should do to let the world know its new airport has been built and is about to officially open for business.

“This is a job that can’t wait,” said Maziarz, a long-time advocate for the airport’s construction. “We have to get this done.”

The gathering included many of the same officials who celebrated a groundbreaking event at the terminal in September. The facility — long touted as a catalyst for economic development in the area —is expected to launch its inaugural flight Dec. 11. The goal of Friday’s meeting was to generate ideas on how best to market the airport moving forward.

Those in attendance learned from a consultant who has worked for the NFTA for several years that under current economic conditions, the job will not be easy.

“It’s been a very difficult environment in which to sell sort of an unknown service and a service that might be perceived as having a risk to it,” said Barney Parrella, executive vice president with the InterVISTAS consulting group, which works with the NFTA to promote its facilities in the Falls and Buffalo.

At the same time, Parella indicated that efforts are under way to attract new carriers to the Falls from Europe and other overseas markets. He added that the airport’s new amenities and the various attractions in the Falls area give the community “plenty to sell” to potential investors. Parella also suggested the economic problems that have posed challenges to the airlines industry are showing some signs of improvement of late.

“In this environment that has been difficult, but the environment is changing,” he said.

NFTA officials offered an overview of the various aspects of the new facility that make for strong selling points, including state-of-the-art amenities, lower costs for air carriers and passengers and a runway capable of landing larger 747 aircraft commonly used during overseas flights. The NFTA’s director of aviation William Vanacek said the facility is ideally poised to tap into a potential customer base of roughly 8 million people who live in the area commonly known as the “Golden Horseshoe,” which includes Western New York and the Toronto region. Vanacek said the agency continues to aggressively market the availability of low-cost flights in Niagara Falls in Canada.

Vanacek said the NFTA has set aside about $300,000 in its current budget for marketing efforts related to the Falls airport. In December, the agency will have in place 37 billboards advertising low-cost flights offered by Direct Air out of the Falls to Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Florida to potential passengers in Hamilton, St. Catharines, Burlington and other communities in Ontario.

“Ideally, our long-term goal is to bring people here to spend money in this economy,” Vanacek said.

Direct Air has had success offering flights to and from Niagara Falls since setting up shop in the area in 2007. Company President Ed Warneck attended Friday’s meeting and encouraged local officials and members of the business community to develop more of a “family” approach to promoting not only the facility, but the entire destination of Niagara Falls.

“It’s not just one person,” he said. “It’s not just an idea. It’s a team effort and it starts with sales and marketing,” he said.

Warneck said in other smaller communities where his company does business, like Worcester, Mass. for example, the marketing efforts surrounding local airports often involve millions of dollars of investment from both public and private partners. He encouraged leaders in Niagara County to consider similar partnerships moving forward. He also encouraged local leaders to consider “reverse marketing” efforts where dollars are spent on advertising in communities like Myrtle Beach to encourage travelers in that area to consider flying to the Falls.

“The bottom line is marketing equates to sales and without sales blood stops flowing to the heart,” he said.

Youngstown Mayor Neil Riorden, who works for Viatran, suggested community leaders survey area businesses to get a better feel for their flying habits, noting that many companies do involve employees in traveling for conferences and other activities. Others suggested the community design airport packages and promotion around unique aspects of the region, including the availability of skiing and winter sports, and events held locally that attract nationwide attention, including the NCAA basketball tournament that is often held at HSBC Arena in Buffalo. Many in attendance agreed that the effort needs to be focused more on marketing the community’s attractions as a whole rather than just the airport itself.

All recommendations from Friday’s meeting will be collected by the county’s Center for Economic Development in Sanborn. Vanacek encouraged those in attendance to submit names of individuals who they think should be named to a working group to be created to oversee airport-related marketing. Maziarz said additional meetings on the subject will be held in the future.

“Our journey is not over,” Maziarz said. “We have an array of challenges before us.”

Contact reporter Mark Scheer at 282-2311, ext. 2250