CAA: GA News, "Airport upgrades to attract 'rich guys'"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Airport upgrades to attract 'rich guys'
By Rosalind Jennings
The Orlando (FL) Sentinel


Charlie Weller wants bigger planes landing at Leesburg Regional Airport,
making it "the airport of choice" for the big guys.

The airport, on U.S. Highway 441 near Lake-Sumter Community College, is in
the middle of improvements.

The airport's main runway was repaved and strengthened, and the entrances
and exits were widened recently to give larger planes an easier landing.

Twenty steel hangars were completed recently. They will house 20
single-engine planes and will be leased to private aircraft owners.

Weller, the airport's manager, said these improvements could lure more
industry to the area.

"When people fly into Leesburg, the first thing they see isn't Venetian
Gardens or the City Hall. The first thing they see is the airport," Weller
said. "We are also spending a whole lot of money to landscape and beautify."

City Commissioner Lewis Puckett's aerial forestry company, Aerostat Inc., is
based at the airport.

Weller said the airport will continue to serve recreational pilots, but
Leesburg wants more.

"Rich guys still fly their own airplanes in," Weller said.

"We've still got that going on, but we have a far greater goal than just
recreational pilots. We want the airport to serve as the economic weapon for
the city of Leesburg and Lake County.

"When a company puts in a manufacturing plant, they don't drive to a site.
They fly to a site," Weller said. "And for a president of a company to
locate here, they would want an airport that could store their own personal
airplanes. That's a reason to come to Leesburg."

Weller is talking about industry creating more jobs and raising the standard
of living in Leesburg.

The runway's construction materials went from limestone to granite, a big
improvement, Weller said.

"The bottom line is [pilots of] larger corporate-type jets like the
Gulfstream 5 -- that's a $50 million airplane -- don't want to risk landing
on an airport where the runway strength cannot accept the weight of the
plane," he said.


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