THE COMMUNITY AIRPORT:
ALBATROSS OR GOOSE
THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGG?

By JOSEPH H. PATE, MBA, ATP; Aviation Consultant

There is an alarming trend in aviation affecting many general aviation airports and the communities served by them!

The good news is that general aviation continues to serve 100% of the landing facilities in the United States even though the number of airports served by major airlines drops each year. Only 4% of the active civil aircraft are airliners. The other 96% are general aviation aircraft. These business and private aircraft safely and efficiently carry over 100 million passengers each year, accounting for 37% of all miles flown annually. General aviation aircraft are involved in less than 2% of all transportation fatalities and consume less than1% of fuel used for transportation.

At the beginning of this decade, general aviation supported 542,000 jobs in the U.S., producing annual earnings of over $14 billion, with an annual economic activity in excess of $45 billion. It is anticipated that the number of general aviation aircraft, and corresponding flight activity, will increase by about 15% by the end of the decade.

The bad news is that the number of public use airports has declined by more than 22% in the past twenty-five years, a trend that is expected to continue if action involving the communities and their airports is not taken. Since 1969, over 2000 public access airports have been lost to the communities served by them. Likewise, the services provided by these airports have been lost, including: business and corporate transportation; emergency evacuations and rescue missions; law enforcement; medical transportation or emergency flights; on-demand air taxi service and charter flights; personal transportation; aerial advertising; aerial surveying, news reporting, photography, videotaping, and traffic monitoring; pipe-line and power-line patrol; air transport of business supplies and services; aerial agricultural application; flight instruction.

With the loss of airport services, the communities have lost the economic benefits of the airport businesses that support these services, and the economic benefits of businesses that offer these services, and the economic benefits of the businesses in the community that would do business with the businesses that provide these services; and probably the greatest loss, the economic benefits of the businesses that choose not to establish themselves in the community because the airport and these services are not available.

Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association says that a major reason for airport failures is that "the real value of airports just isn't being made known to those beyond the airport boundary. Fallacies and misinformation are being disseminated, and rarely does the true importance of an airport get conveyed to the non-flying community and elected decision makers." Many airport sponsors and communities typically do not view their airports as a portion of a national transportation system. They do not understand the fact that their airports play a vital role not only in the local economic picture, but in the nation's infrastructure — that it can be "an economic engine."

An attempt to curb the trend of declining general aviation airports in Illinois is under way in the form of the National-Louis University Airports Enhancement Project. In partnership with the Illinois Aviation Forum, a coalition of 39 aviation associations, and with the cooperation of IDOT-Division of Aeronautics, National-Louis University is working through aviation and community based associations for a top down approach to what is essentially a national problem that must be solved at the community level.

The initial meeting of an airport-community relations focus group was held recently at the National- Louis University Conference Center in Wheaton. Rep-

Page 12 / Illinois Municipal Review / September 1994

resentation at the meeting included: IDOT-Division of Aeronautics; IL Aviation Trades Association; IL Public Airports Association; IL Council of Independent Airports; Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association; Illinois Development Council; Illinois Municipal League; Illinois Pilots Association; Illinois Aviation Forum; and County board and village planning representatives.

Mr. Bill Blake, Director, IDOT-Division of Aeronautics, stated that troubled airports often have sponsors that have lost interest and there is a lack of communication with the public. Community leaders need to make the airport part of the community. He cited the city of Flora as an example of a community linking the development of an industrial park with the airport.

The consensus of the task group was that in order to have a successful community relationship, the airport must be perceived as an integral part of the community that transcends the chain link barriers. The airport should look beyond airport-based interests and view everyone as a potential customer. The community must be educated to the airport contribution of economic benefits to individuals and to the economic success of local businesses.

Working together, airports and the communities can each benefit from the prosperity of the other. For rural and urban communities alike, the airport can be "the goose that laid the golden egg." But like the fabled goose, the potential for economic development from the airport can not be realized if the airport is allowed to fail. The airport must be regarded as a valuable asset. Opportunities must be sought to link the airport to the economic development of the community. •

September 1994 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 13