"Big plans in the wings spell major changes at Boeing Field"

Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Big plans in the wings spell major changes at Boeing Field
By JENNIFER LANGSTON
THE SEATTLE (WA) POST-INTELLIGENCER


King County's airport director, Bob Burke, has to close his eyes and picture
a different world when he thinks about making large-scale passenger service
work at Boeing Field.

The long, skinny airport -- which Southwest Airlines is eyeing as its new
home -- is a complicated jigsaw puzzle of 150 diverse businesses. 

There are cargo jets, Boeing test operations, pilot schools, the Museum of
Flight, charter services, surveillance aircraft, medical evacuation
helicopters, corporate hangars, office buildings -- even an improbable
flower nursery.

Adding the Dallas-based air carrier and its 2.2 million annual passengers
would be expensive. Required improvements would cost millions, including a
bigger passenger terminal, parking garage, beefed-up security and potential
freeway and road upgrades. 

"If you look at it now, you say, 'Gosh, how do you do this?' " said Burke,
who is optimistic the airline can be accommodated at Boeing Field, formally
named King County International Airport. 

"There's a lot of airports in the country that would love to have them," he
said. "It's exciting -- and it's a lot of work."

Some tenants at Boeing Field liken the possible change to plopping a
skyscraper in the middle of a small town -- something that would
dramatically change both the landscape and the culture.

It easily would be one of the biggest transformations in the airport's
history, said Peter Anderson, president of Galvin Flying Service, who
started out sweeping hangars there 35 years ago.

Although Anderson sees potential benefits in the move, the effect on
traffic, surrounding neighborhoods or existing businesses won't really be
known until county officials receive a proposal from Southwest outlining
what the company wants to build. That's expected later this summer.

King County Executive Ron Sims has said most of the money for airport
improvements would have to come out of Southwest's pocket. But a major new
tenant such as the low-fare carrier could help bolster the struggling
airport's bottom line.

Because of rising costs at Sea-Tac Airport, Southwest believes the move
could yield substantial savings for the company over time.

If a deal is reached, some Boeing Field businesses worry they'll be evicted
or relocated. Others say introducing thousands of pass-through travelers
each day could dilute the character of an airport where nearly everyone
shares a passion for flight.

Adding at least 80 jet takeoffs and landings a day could also stir ill will
in surrounding neighborhoods that have been pushing noise-reduction efforts
for a decade. 

Southwest's current operations would boost Boeing Field traffic by roughly
10 percent and total jet flights by nearly 40 percent, according to airport
statistics. But those numbers could rise substantially if Southwest expands
or other airlines follow suit.

In an industry that attracts independent-minded, entrepreneurial spirits who
love the limitless sky, many aren't wild about more cars and security
restrictions.

"My left brain tells me that the airport needs to do something ... and has a
responsibility to remain a viable financial entity," said Marie Campbell,
co-owner of the Aviation Training Center that operates a ground school for
pilots. 

"But my right brain says, ... for the dollar, we're going to kill the
character of the airport."

'Schizophrenic airport'

Airports do have personalities, and Boeing Field is defined by diversity. It
hosts everything from giant Russian cargo planes big enough to carry
helicopters in its hold to propeller planes that weigh less than a ton.

Some businesses could be displaced by Southwest, airport director Burke
said. But other parcels on the 600-acre airport could be put to better use,
such as an old office building that once housed the Sheriff's Office task
force investigating the Green River killings.

"This airport has the mix that makes life interesting," he said. "I don't
think people will be upset with Southwest as long as it doesn't impact their
freedom. I think it would just kind of meld together."

But critics such as King County Councilman Dwight Pelz, who represents
surrounding neighborhoods, disagree. The County Council, which is being
lobbied by competing sides, ultimately could block the move by refusing to
approve a lease agreement with Southwest. 

"There will be a change in an airport that's largely an industrial airport
with a diverse mix of uses to becoming a schizophrenic airport," Pelz said.

Southwest routinely flies out of smaller airports and is financing a major
terminal expansion in Islip, N.Y. But this is the first time the airline is
considering such a broad development proposal, according to spokeswoman
Marilee McInnis.

"We're not in the habit of building airports," said McInnis, who declined to
say how much Southwest wants to expand or what kind of investment it's
willing to make here.

"We're looking at what it would take -- you need a terminal, you need a
parking structure, rental car space, what would traffic patterns be, how
would our planes park. Anything you can imagine from the ground up we have
to think about."

At Boeing Field's current passenger terminal, walking from one end to the
other takes less than a minute. County officials say the recently renovated
brick building -- built in 1930 soon after the airport was paved out of
immigrant farms and flood plains -- would be retained in any development
plans.

It was only one year after Charles Lindbergh made his historic
trans-Atlantic flight that Seattleites voted to build an airport supporting
The Boeing Co. and ushering the city into the new air age.

Though the last large passenger carrier left the airport in the early 1970s,
a few charter companies still offer scheduled flights to the San Juan
Islands and other regional spots. There are no metal detectors, and a recent
passenger carried on a 5-gallon bucket of rocks without hearing a peep about
security. 

Costs for developing a new terminal alone could easily range between $20
million and $40 million, said Tom Schnetzer, a Minneapolis-based aviation
planner who specializes in midsize airport development for the engineering
firm Mead & Hunt. 

Kurt Triplett, Sims' chief of staff and the county's lead negotiator on the
Southwest proposal, said there is only a "small likelihood" that the county
would issue bonds to finance new development at Boeing Field.

"There will be some stuff around the edges about who pays for what, but
mostly we've told them if you want to do something it'll be on your dime,"
he said. 

County officials say that without a detailed proposal, they don't know how
adding a major passenger carrier would affect noise or traffic around Boeing
Field. Those issues will be fully studied, they say.

Although the three-mile-long airport is bounded by two freeway exits,
getting to and from the terminal involves hairpin turns or confusing doglegs
through traffic lights and stop signs.

The key surface streets around the airport currently have the best level of
transportation service, according to the Seattle Transportation Department.
Because there are so few congestion problems compared with other areas, the
city hasn't recently spent the money to extensively model local
intersections.

But along Interstate 5 at the southbound Swift-Albro exit, the freeway is
close to failing, meaning cars get stuck in stop-and-go traffic, says the
state Department of Transportation. 

Because some Southwest passengers already drive the same stretch of highway
to Sea-Tac, experts say more work would be needed to determine how much the
airline's move would exacerbate those problems.

Concerns over 'evolution'

Nancy Griffith opposes the move, even though it could be good for business.

Griffith runs The Aviator's Store at Boeing Field, which sells aeronautical
charts, leather jackets, vintage airplane cards and supplies. She bets her
building near the current terminal will be razed if Southwest comes, but
those passengers could ring up a lot of sales if a new location is good. 

But Griffith, who also publishes a line of aviation instruction books,
thinks it's the wrong thing for the larger community, since everyone's
already paying for major terminal renovations and a third runway at Sea-Tac.

"This will be a huge, huge change, and I don't know that it would be for the
better. I don't see any winners except for Southwest Airlines," she said.

Campbell, who runs a ground school for pilots, said more jet traffic could
interfere with flight training and be intimidating for new pilots. That's
historically been a key part of the airport's energy and synergism.

Don Brandt, the owner of National Aviation Inc., which sells aircraft parts
and supplies at Boeing Field, is among the skeptics who don't believe a move
by Southwest will ever happen.

But the direction the airport is trying to go doesn't surprise him, as he's
watched mechanic shops and parts distributors disappear while hangars for
the region's wealthiest residents have proliferated.

An airport lease enforcer has started throwing elbows around, telling people
they can't park next to hangars and policing what they store inside, Brandt
said.

"It's been a non-confrontational, evolutionary change," he said. "What
you're going to see here is corporate monolith after corporate monolith." 

But not everyone at the airport thinks Southwest would make a bad neighbor. 

Since 1960, Gene Rosso's family has operated a nursery selling Tuscan
rosemary, yucca plants and heirloom tomatoes at the airport's northern tip.
Six thousand more people a day passing through the Georgetown neighborhood,
stopping to buy gas or grab a sandwich, would be great for the larger
community, he said. 

Anderson, of Galvin Flying Service, said his logistical concerns outweigh
his desire to see a constructive and public debate about Boeing Field's
future. 

Over the years, he's watched the airport languish from benign neglect and
evolve without much forethought.

Recently, rising fees to pay for post-9/11 security upgrades, noise studies
and earthquake repairs have hit businesses and plane owners alike.

"The airport needs additional funds to grow and prosper," he said.

"I'm excited if this is going to be a catalyst to have a meaningful
conversation and make decisions, so it doesn't just morph willy-nilly."

Attached Graphic/Photo:

A closer Look at Boeing Field.

A bigger passenger terminal and a parking garage would be among the changes
needed to accommodate Southwest Airlines at Boeing Field.

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boeingfield.jpg