The board that oversees the Newport News-Williamsburg Airport is closely examining the performance of its top executive, minutes from recent board meetings show.

The Peninsula Airport Commission met in closed session Jan. 26 to discuss Airport Executive Director Mike Giardino — who has led the airport for five years — and Avelo Airlines, which recently began service at the airport.

The six-member board came back into open session two hours later, according to minutes from the meeting.

The scope of what was discussed wasn’t clear: Board members declined to talk about the matter this week, and Giardino did not return phone calls. His executive assistant said he was out of the country and couldn’t be reached.

But after the board came back into public session, it voted 4-1 to approve a motion authorizing chairwoman Lindsey Carney-Smith to “take any and all actions” that she “may deem necessary” to carry out the board’s “purpose and intent.”

That follows a Dec. 1 meeting at which Giardino’s performance also was discussed.

The recent discussions come against the backdrop of years hoping Giardino could find more airlines to serve the struggling airport and Peninsula residents.

The Newport News-Williamsburg Airport has largely been squeezed out of the Southeastern Virginia market in recent years by larger airports in Norfolk and Richmond. Annual passenger travel has drastically declined — from more than 1 million travelers in 2012 to about 166,000 in fiscal year 2022.

The board members who voted in favor of the Jan. 26 motion included Carney-Smith, Tommy Garner, Sharon P. Scott and Jennifer Smith. Jay” Joseph voted against it, and Brian Kelly had to leave the meeting early but asked that it be “expressed in the minutes” that he would have voted against it as well.

Joseph said he can’t talk about the issue because “it’s a personnel matter, and I’ve been reluctant to talk about personnel matters.” He referred the question to Carney-Smith to provide a public statement.

“You can’t have six commissioners all talking on behalf of the commission,” Joseph said.

Carney-Smith didn’t immediately return a call.

Scott, a former Newport News city councilwoman, declined to comment, saying she didn’t feel comfortable speaking about the closed session. Garner referred a call to the board’s chair, while Kelly and Jennifer Smith couldn’t immediately be reached.

The Jan. 26 closed meeting follows a closed “Special Peninsula Airport Commission Meeting” in early December — also to talk about Giardino.

Carney-Smith called the Dec. 1 meeting to talk about the performance of “specific employees of the commission, namely the executive director,” board minutes show. Members met for an hour and a half in closed session, then came out and voted on a motion.

“The Executive Committee shall promptly meet with the Executive Director to convey the thoughts of the Commission, along with its future plans and goals,” the board said in the vote, which carried unanimously.

Giardino, 60, was hired as the airport’s executive director in 2017, following the ouster of former director Ken Spirito over the People Express fiasco. Spirito was convicted in federal court after a secret $5 million loan guarantee to the start-up airline.

A retired Navy commander and helicopter pilot, Giardino has touted public transparency since he arrived, freely talking about airport issues and sharing airport documents.

On the day he was hired, he vowed “to aggressively address the community’s air travel needs.”

But even as Giardino has spent significant time and energy meeting with airlines and attending conferences to tout his airport, the pandemic led to more setbacks as more carriers cut back on service.

He landed a significant victory in October when Avelo Airlines announced new service to Florida, with Avelo’s chairman saying “getting to the Sunshine State is now affordable and easier than ever.”

But even with that good news, only two commercial carriers — Avelo and American Airlines — now serve the airport, with three direct destinations in Charlotte and Florida.

The Newport News airport has a significant general aviation business of people flying and chartering small private planes.

But commercial traffic is a far cry from the airport’s heyday about 15 years ago, when AirTran Airways — serving New York, Boston, Atlanta and Florida — dominated airport traffic, accounting for nearly half its passengers.

AirTran pulled out of Newport News in 2012 when it was bought by Southwest Airlines. Delta Air Lines “temporarily” pulled out of Newport News in May 2020 during the pandemic, and never returned.

The reduced traffic has translated into less money from parking and car rental fees, making it tough to make ends meet. In the year that ended last July, the airport took in $5.4 million in operating revenue but paid $8 million in expenses, for an operating loss of $2.6 million, airport budget numbers show.

Giardino has greatly pared the airport’s expenses in recent years — including drastically cutting staff and closing what he called a money-bleeding trailer park. But he has told the Daily Press the airport made up last year’s budget gap largely with federal grant money.

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com