Detroit City Airport KDET

[Norman]

Detroit City Council making noises about closing the airport.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/04/13/detroit-city-airport/100400706/

61 planes based there, and the closest alternative is Troy Oakland which I doubt has room for those planes and can't accommodate anything much faster than a small twin. Basically, the city fathers are grumbling because there is no scheduled service there and think the land could be better used. Perhaps just in the talking stages at the moment but we know how that goes.
Is there really an incentive to keep it open? The facilities there are ancient and not in the best of repair. Runway too short to suit Southwest. Do many corporates use the field or do they use KPTK?

 

[RyanB]

Corporate uses Oakland County and Willow Run primarily. Troy and Romeo State are a bit more dominate for small GA operations. It's been a few years since I was at Romeo State, however things might've changed by now.

 

[Norman]

Corporate uses Oakland County and Willow Run primarily. Troy and Romeo State are a bit more dominate for small GA operations. It's been a few years since I was at Romeo State, however things might've changed by now.

I know that well. Lived within a mile or so of KPTK and worked there for thirty years. Just wondering aloud what the outcome for City may be and eliciting relevant responses.

 

[ytodd]

A couple friends of mine flew into KDET to catch another mutual friend play a baseball game. (Oakland A's vs Detroit Tigers). The airport didn't seem to be in a great neighborhood, and was somewhat in disrepair. I had flight following coming in VFR and when I got handed over to Detroit approach the controller asked me my destination. I replied Kilo Delta, Echo Tango. There was a pause then he replied (very excitedly) "DEEEEEEEEETROIIIIIIIIIIIIIT CITY!!!" I couldn't stop laughing.......

 

[Getonit]

Sounds like typical idiots running mist cities.....use the land for what? Detroit already has probably tens of square miles of vacant land in the city. Maybe use those instead of closing something that is useful. I decided to read the article instead of pulling a POA.....OK airport is losing money, cut costs....66 full time employees? Let's face it those are democratic handouts. Close the 24 hour control tower, not needed for 30 operations per day. I have real work to do today so that is all I am going to comment on.

 

[weilke]

Sounds like typical idiots running mist cities.....use the land for what? Detroit already has probably tens of square miles of vacant land in the city. Maybe use those instead of closing something that is useful. I decided to read the article instead of pulling a POA.....OK airport is losing money, cut costs....66 full time employees? Let's face it those are democratic handouts. Close the 24 hour control tower, not needed for 30 operations per day. I have real work to do today so that is all I am going to comment on.

The only detailed budget document I could find was from 2008/2009 and mentions 11 city positions (of 8 budgeted). I believe 66 refers to the total employment on the airport including the FBO and tenant businesses.

The '09 budget lists:

4 FTE for administration at $991,260
1 Airport Director
1 Manager
2 Administrative Specialist I

5 FTE for maintenance at $1,147,150
3 Airport Service Worker
1 Bldg Trades Worker-Gen
1 Airport Service Foreman

2 FTE for operations at at $231,963
1 Operations Manager
1 Asst Operations Manager

By my count this makes it 5 chiefs and 6 indians. That's a 1:1.2 management/line relationship. I am no expert, but that seems to be a bit skewed. Unless a number of the folks who have 'manager' in their title are misclassified, there would seem to be some potential to streamline the organizational diagram a bit.

Now in the general city budget for 2016, admin cost has gone up to 2.178mil and maintenance is down to 821k. Operations has been eliminated alltogether. Looks like they have their priorities straight ;-)





The 2016 transportation budget for the city of detroit is 135mil. Apparently 670k to the airport is too big of a burden to bear for the city. I somehow dont think this is about the money.

 

[Getonit]

Sorry it did say 66 public and private employees, doing what is the question. By numbers you presented, the chiefs are costing $250K per year each and the Indians $220K per year.....which seems high...... Point is room to cut.

 

[weilke]

Sorry it did say 66 public and private employees, doing what is the question. By numbers you presented, the chiefs are costing $250K per year each and the Indians $220K per year.....which seems high...... Point is room to cut.

I believe those numbers include more than personnel, they represent the entire admin and maintenance budget respectively. I am sure under MIs sunshine law, the salaries for the management employees are public record, but I dont care enough about this to dig them up. The staffing seems to be a bit skewed and you got to wonder whether cutting back on the people with 'director' or 'manager' in the title and contracting mowing and fence repairs may be cheaper than doing it with city employees drawing city pensions.

I dont know how aircraft and personal property on an airport in MI are taxes, but I would expect that an all-in all-out economic analysis for the airport would show that despite the 1mil 'subsidy', there is a net financial benefit to the city through sales, income and property tax revenue.

 

[N747JB]

I used to fly into DET a few times per year for meetings in Detroit. Unless something has changed drastically in the last 5 or 6 years, the rundown airport is the nicest part of the neighborhood!!

 

[azure]

If it happens I will be sad to see this. I did most of my pre-solo training at City. My former A&P works there in the Executive terminal restoring classic warbirds. Lots of memories there. Yes the neighborhood is not a safe place to walk around, but I drove past the airport many times to and from work and never got anything worse than dirty looks from neighborhood denizens.

I can't support this statement, but I do suspect strongly that the airport could be made to work financially given the will and the right people in management. But that's asking a lot in Detroit, unfortunately.