Thought experiment: Create a new GA airport

Mistake Not...

Mistake Not...

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Mistake Not...
Goal: Start a new airport that would host a pilot community large enough to attract and keep other, necessary services (A&P, avionics).

Constraints: No wishing. No pie in the sky. Under current regulations, with current funding sources, environmental law, financing, etc. This isn't a "if you could change one thing...". Think of it as a business plan, or a reason not to. Airport should be self funding after a start up period (from rent?)

Rationale: A recent thread got me thinking about how to revitalize GA. My original hypothesis was that it's just "too expensive". But then I started looking at what makes life difficult for me as an airplane owner:

* Hangar availability
* Service availability

Yeah, there are a bunch of other things that annoy me, but those are at the state and federal level. I'm talking about finding a hangar, and then once you're there, getting avionics work done (for example).

My current hypothesis goes like this:

* hangar space is severely constrained. Nearly every airport has a waiting list measured in years.
* Small pilot population limits / prevents profitability of any services which might wish to locate on airport.
* Small population increases prices where services are available.

I'm currently based at a small, private field that apparently manages to keep the lights on from hangar rent, there's a mechanic available and we have fuel. So, this is possible in at least one case, but even this airport isn't building any new hangars.

Could you start a business that, instead of owning FBOs would own and run airports? Would it be possible to make something like that work in today's environment?
 
I think airport communities are interesting, and there are some cases for having commuter communities where many of the residents might work in the same far off city and be able to live in the country but commute in via aircraft. there are folks that do this at Google for example. They save so much on the house that they can afford to fly in (with a coworker or two) 3 days a week (and work from home 2x per week) that it's a win win and they get to live out of the beehive.

It would be interesting to think about attracting services through lifesystle. for example. are there a certain number of A&P and avionics techs who would perhaps work for less if they had taxiway frontage for their house/shop? some would not do this, but I bet there are some folks who would charge a lower rate and have the lifestyle of living there, which would make it easy to sustain.

I also think having a couple of rows of hangars for non-residents would increase the demand for services and fuel and bring some outside money in. You could consider some rules about "active" airplanes in hangars to avoid the dead end that is a non-active airplane tying up a hangar, not buying fuel, not getting annualed, etc.

Additionally, having at least a GPS instrument approach would seem to add a lot of utility and be worth the upfront investment.
 
I think an 'Airport' is a losing proposition.
As an investor, I would lean toward communities with taxiway access.
I agree, there would be a number of non-resident hangers, at least self serve fuel and gps approach.

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The problem with an airport is the investment in infrastructure. A paved runway will cost millions to build, and millions more over the years to maintain. In most places, the market for t-hangars will not support a high enough rent to amortize the investment to build. Our airport's going t-hangar rate is around $150 a month. In order for a set of hangars to be self-funding would require close to $350-$400 a month.

For this and many other reasons, the majority of GA airports operate in the red with local government having to bridge the gap with taxpayer money. Most communities accept that cost for the economic impact having an airport brings to their community. The FAA and state governments usually cover the big infrastructure cost of runways and other pavement.

Sadly, as expensive as aviation is, if we had to pay the real cost to fly, it would be much more expensive.
 
Do you have money ? There is a nice public airport for sale: 3700ft paved (4100 in master plan, potential for 4500). Parallel taxiway. FAA spec obstacle planes LPV approach (2nd one funded). Asking 4.8mil, would probably take less. Needs another mil or two for apron completion and site development cost before you could lease out parcels to hangar builders. 40min south of DC. Comes with 100acres of 'light industrial' land to develop.
 
weilke said:
Do you have money ? There is a nice public airport for sale: 3700ft paved (4100 in master plan, potential for 4500). Parallel taxiway. FAA spec obstacle planes LPV approach (2nd one funded). Asking 4.8mil, would probably take less. Needs another mil or two for apron completion and site development cost before you could lease out parcels to hangar builders. 40min south of DC. Comes with 100acres of 'light industrial' land to develop.
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Sounds a lot like the one I live on, which is also for sale, but for much less.
 
Personally, for me to be based somewhere as a semi-commuter, I basically have to have at least an LPV approach. There's a couple nice residential airports/airparks in Oregon like Independence State, 7S5, with services, a cafe, thriving community. But in Oregon, without an approach, it's basically a non-starter. So I ended up across the street from an airport, still waiting to get a hangar here, #1 on the list for 9 months or so. They'd almost certainly have more traffic if they had more hangars, as there's a waiting list, but no planes tied down on the ramp, so obviously based elsewhere(since no one in their right mind ties down a plane on the Oregon coast.) And since they have a limited number of planes, no official A&P/maintenance shop, which would also be nice.
 
We had a pilot at the airline that bought land and opened a fly-in community, then lots that were adjacent but not on the runway he built spec homes. But he was a wheeler dealer type. That might be the way to go, a private grass airport. Still ain't cheap.
 
Beyond the basics of hangars, a mechanic, fuel, I would have as many amenities for non-pilots as possible, a park, dog park, playground, a restaurant that non pilots would go to, maybe a museum? Anything to attract more of the community. Hopefully that will build support for the airport and maybe attract new pilots.
 
ColoPilot said:
Anything to attract more of the community.
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badabing.jpeg
 
weilke said:
Do you have money ? There is a nice public airport for sale: 3700ft paved (4100 in master plan, potential for 4500). Parallel taxiway. FAA spec obstacle planes LPV approach (2nd one funded). Asking 4.8mil, would probably take less. Needs another mil or two for apron completion and site development cost before you could lease out parcels to hangar builders. 40min south of DC. Comes with 100acres of 'light industrial' land to develop.
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Hmm. Lets say 6 million to get it bought and ready to go. There are 21,700 registered POA members. Thats about $275 apiece. We'll need a name. Oh yeah, and some rules.
 
luvflyin said:
Hmm. Lets say 6 million to get it bought and ready to go. There are 21,700 registered POA members. Thats about $275 apiece. We'll need a name. Oh yeah, and some rules.
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Let's say you have a 5mil note at 3%, you need to generate 150k profit from fuel sales, land leases and ramp fees for it to make sense.
 
Are we talking about accepting federal grant money?
 
that's a lot of bots and one-time-post peddlers of used trash on the classifieds...

ETA: I figure going forward, the only way the wife and I can stay active in the avocation is by moving to a fly-in community. Job centers once she gets into the work force are simply devoid of GA access and I'm not owning an airplane I have to drive 30-45 minutes in order to fly on. Problem I have with the fly-in communities is the housing costs are even more egregious than living out in the general beehive. Nobody wants cheap housing around them, which makes it a catch-22 for people like us.
 
With the closure of St. Marys Airport in southeast Georgia a couple weeks ago, the Georgia DOT is looking for a sponsor for a new airport in that region. Already comes with FAA, GDOT, and USNavy money to build it.

Buy some land in Camden County. My firm would be happy to do all of the planning, grant work, engineering and construction. Heck, we'll even throw in a business plan.
 
Ken Ibold said:
With the closure of St. Marys Airport in southeast Georgia a couple weeks ago, the Georgia DOT is looking for a sponsor for a new airport in that region. Already comes with FAA, GDOT, and USNavy money to build it.

Buy some land in Camden County. My firm would be happy to do all of the planning, grant work, engineering and construction. Heck, we'll even throw in a business plan.
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Does it come with Camden county political support ?
 
Gerhardt said:
Yes, but many, many inactive posters.
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Umm, that's exactly the point I was making in that post. 21,700 members with about 100 that are active posters. Was that not clear to you?
 
Someone ought to ask Ron Henriksen; he has done two new airports the last ten years, and they are both doing very well, indeed.

They are Houston Executive Airport (KTME) and Austin Executive Airport (KEDC).

Technically, Austin Executive was not a "new" airport, but the field that was there was very small and almost dead; now, it is a world-class airport, exceptional facilities and soon to have its own control tower. Houston Executive is also tower-controlled now, and it was cut in out of bare dirt.

I don't think Mr. Henriksen is doing it for the privilege of losing money, as he seems to me to be a fairly astute businessman. Apparently, there is a business case for airports, if they are done on a businesslike basis.
 
so it -is- possible. Interesting. That's why I called it a "thought experiment". I honestly couldn't decide if, absent airlines, airport could make sense from a business point of view. I just assumed subsidies kept them going.

If GA is to ever turn around, profitability is going to have to be a part of it.
 
Ryanb said:
Umm, that's exactly the point I was making in that post. 21,700 members with about 100 that are active posters. Was that not clear to you?
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Yeah, my humor isn't always clear. I was referring to the fact that many of us are who post frequently are middle-aged men with paunches. It's probably not funny now that I had to explain it.
 
Gerhardt said:
Yeah, my humor isn't always clear. I was referring to the fact that many of us are who post frequently are middle-aged men with paunches. It's probably not funny now that I had to explain it.
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Ah, I see what'cha mean. As steingar said, get off your duff! :)
 
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