Port of Bellingham new policy.

Tom-D

Tom-D

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Tom-D
The Port of Bellingham is now requiring $2 million of general liability insurance both per occurrence and in aggregate just to rent a tie down space or small t-hangar, month to month. This requirement is being applied to all leases on the airport regardless of the value of the aircraft. So whether you own a Gulftream V or a Cessna 150, you must have a $2 million insurance policy in order to rent at BLI effective immediately, or they will cancel your lease and tell you to leave the airport. How about that for trying to kill general aviation?

Posted on FB this morning by a reliable source
 
general aviation - death of a thousand cuts :(
 
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Was there an incident?

Or maybe there is an association of airport managers which has a scareletter being circulated?
I could see an av magazine being read by a bored airport manager with his feet on the desk, "Hey I need to do that too!" (jack up insurance coverages)
 
Tom-D said:
The Port of Bellingham is now requiring $2 million of general liability insurance both per occurrence and in aggregate just to rent a tie down space or small t-hangar, month to month. This requirement is being applied to all leases on the airport regardless of the value of the aircraft. So whether you own a Gulftream V or a Cessna 150, you must have a $2 million insurance policy in order to rent at BLI effective immediately, or they will cancel your lease and tell you to leave the airport. How about that for trying to kill general aviation?

Posted on FB this morning by a reliable source
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Mine has a $1m for hangar lease. What's sad is there are uninsurable airplanes on the airport.
 
Previous city leased hangar for me(slightly inland Oregon) wanted $1m, which since I already had a smooth policy I just added them for $0.

Current city leased hangar doesn't care(coastal Oregon).
 
This is just my ignorance talking:

I would think as the liability number goes up the rate would go down. How much damage do you think you can cause with a ASEL? I guess you could fly it into the community hangar?
 
Probably the airport's own insurance now has a $2mm deductible, and by requiring tenants to maintain the first $2mm on their policy it's fitting in with the airport's new, possibly lower-cost, policy.
 
Old97 said:
...How much damage do you think you can cause with a ASEL? I guess you could fly it into the community hangar?
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You don't have to be renting a tie-down there to do that.

I suspect they are more concerned about being named in a lawsuit (as they will be seen to have deeper pockets than many aircraft tenants) if the tenant injures or kills someone on their premises.

Liability insurance is the smaller part of my premium. The hull coverage premium is way more expensive than liability. And I suspect the difference between $1 MM and $2 MM on the premium won't be a showstopper. I carry $2 MM now, even though my home airport has no minimum requirement at the moment.

Rgbeard said:
Probably the airport's own insurance now has a $2mm deductible, and by requiring tenants to maintain the first $2mm on their policy it's fitting in with the airport's new, possibly lower-cost, policy.
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Highly unlikely.

What is most likely is their insurance company provides them a lower premium for their coverage if the Port has this requirement of their tenants. It allows the Port's insurance company to pay out a claim on behalf of their customer (Port of Bellingham), and if cause can be determined to be partially or fully due to a tenant, their insurance company can sue to recover up to $2 MM of what they paid out from the tenant's insurance company.
 
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When I first bought my airplane, I tried to get more than $1m and the insurance company (AOPA), said $1m was the max, since I was a new pilot and no IR. I didn't shop it, but it might not be available to everyone.
 
John221us said:
When I first bought my airplane, I tried to get more than $1m and the insurance company (AOPA), said $1m was the max, since I was a new pilot and no IR. I didn't shop it, but it might not be available to everyone.
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Yep. One of the local to me airports tried raising the tenant insurance requirements to $2m a few years ago and several of the tenants were told that $1m was standard and the highest they could be insured for. When the city was pressed about how they came up with the new requirement that people couldn't get coverage for, the issue was dropped.

In our case I think the attempted change was driven by a power hungry airport manager more than the city.
 
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