SPECIAL REPORT: IT GENERAL AVIATION
New York’s Teterboro Airport. And the end result is that in place of old hangars and limited ramp
space, a new 22,000sqft dedicated GA terminal was constructed, housing a restaurant, offices, a pilot’s lounge, additional parking and an observation area. “As a key gateway into the Triangle it was felt RDU needed a first
class general aviation facility. The point is to serve the community and businesses that reside around the airport, and this was the key impulse behind the new terminal,” says Mike McElvaney, Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority’s deputy director of operations. Today, RDU handles 3,000 to 4,500 general aviation flights a
month, including a sizeable number of business jets, and according to McElvaney, general aviation “pays for itself” when it comes to user fees and operational expenses. The Crosswinds Café, located inside the GA terminal, offers visitors
– both those flying and passers-by – a variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner choices while enjoying a panoramic view of RDU’s airfield. And thanks to a dedicated observation space, the terminal draws in
crowds of aviation enthusiasts and travellers. The facility has even become a popular wedding venue, says McElvaney. Elsewhere in the US, With nearly 400,000 take offs and landings,
Van Nuys Airport (VNY) in California is the second busiest ‘public’ airport in the world after Deer Valley Airport in Arizona. Not only is the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) owned and
operated airport busy, it’s also profitable with VNY estimating that it generates around $1.3 billion for the Californian economy every year while supporting 12,300 jobs. Located within a residential zone of the San Fernando Valley,
space restrictions mean VNY could never become an international hub like Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Instead the airport has pursued a goal of becoming a thriving hub for recreational and business flying.
68 AIRPORT WORLD/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2010 Selena Birk, Van Nuys’ airport manager until her recent switch to
LAX, says the airport draws on a rich historical and cultural tradition as it is one of the birthplaces of recreational flying in the US. “Van Nuys has been a popular movie set over the years, appearing
in a famous scene in Casablanca and many war films,” says Birk. “It was also popular with some of the early aviators. The Wright Brothers came here, as did Charles Lindberg, which helped sparked the imagination of the US public in aviation.” With some 100 businesses located at the airport that includes five
FBOs and a host of charter operators, Van Nuys regularly made an annual profit of around $80 million for Los Angeles city owned-LAWA until the economic slowdown saw operations fall by 8%. The subject of a film itself, Van Nuys promotes a number of
community initiatives, including its Aviation Careers Education Academy, which provides San Fernando Valley middle and high school students with free courses and career opportunities at the airport. A criticism often levelled at public airports is that they lack a
dequate security systems and are not as safe as commercial airports, although in VNY’s case at least, Birk assures that this is a massive misconception. “Because Van Nuys has a number of high profile visitors, including
Hollywood celebrities, government officials and business people, and it is in the centre of Los Angeles, it has some of the best security of any general aviation airport in the US,” states Birk. “This includes full-time airport police patrols, which are not
required by the FAA, barbed wire and some of the tenants even employ their own security staff.” With capacity often at a premium and the effects of the economic
crisis still being felt, airports are naturally focusing on safeguarding their core markets, and in many cases in the US, general aviation still has a major role to play.
AW
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