Despite the turmoil in the airline industry, the Tucson Airport Authority finished its fiscal year Sept. 30 exceeding projected revenues by nearly 2 percent while keeping expenses 12 percent under budget.

In his report to the authority’s board of directors, Dick Gruentzel, vice president of administration and finance and CFO, reported total revenues of $38.1 million, which was $645,000 over what was budgeted. This year’s figure was down 9.5 percent from last year’s revenue total of $42.1 million, which was a record.

Expenses for the fiscal year totaled $26.8 million, down $3.7 million from what was budgeted. It was also down 6.4 percent from the $28.7 million that was spent in the previous fiscal year.

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Gruentzel explained the increase in revenues is largely attributed to industrial tenants that have stayed at Tucson International Airport and the fact that Delta and Northwest paid for leasing space for both airlines through the entire fiscal year. The two airlines have now merged their operations in the terminal.

Most of the savings in operating expenses came from the airport authority cutting personnel expenses and instituting an “essentials only” policy when hiring for vacant jobs.

“It’s remarkable that we were able to end the year on such a positive note, especially when you consider that we were doing the preparation for this budget before we had any idea of what the economy had in store,” said Bonnie Allin, president and CEO of the authority.

The Tucson Airport Authority operates both Tucson International Airport and Ryan Airfield.