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Saturday, May 31, 2008 Redlands Municipal Airport becoming focal point for
aviation, other activities in area By
MICHAEL PERRAULT REDLANDS -
Today's grand opening of the Hangar 24 Craft Brewery is just one sign of the
surge in activity at the 61-year-old Redlands Municipal Airport. Across the
street, just west of the main terminal on Sessums Drive, workers are putting up
about 30 new hangars. Redlands Aviation already has occupants for nearly
three-fourths of them. Another 45
people are on a waiting list to rent hangars, said Todd Housley, airport
manager for the past two years. Jim
Ott, left, of Redlands Aviation, and Todd Housley, Redlands Municipal Airport
manager, check out new hangars being built. The airport,
which is home to Airwest Helicopters and High Performance Helicopters, has
become a hub for helicopters used to fight area wildfires. On Wednesdays, a
group of octogenarian pilots who have formed a band show up with guitars and
fiddles to practice. Pilots in the
Redlands Police Department's air support unit swoop in and out in their Cessna,
and aviation buffs show up for occasional weddings. Pilot Ingrid
Biglow, a Redlands Flying Club member, welcomes the hustle and bustle. She said
she is glad to see the 8- to 17-year-old Young Eagles, who fly with the U.S.
Experimental Aircraft Association. "To me, the
wave of the future is general aviation," said Biglow, who landed a Piper
Archer at the airport Friday and gassed it up. "Redlands Airport is
important to me." In the Black The flurry of
activity combined with new financial strategies helped the airport turn a
$25,000 profit last year. That was welcome
news after operating for a decade in the red, said Gary Van Dorst, director of
Redlands' Quality of Life Department, which oversees the airport, parks,
building maintenance, streets and several other divisions. Turning a profit
has been a goal since airport founders Robert Kanaga and Austin Welch opened
Redlands Flying Inn Airport in 1947. They started with a 3,500-foot runway, a
maintenance shop and one hangar. But
profitability always has been a challenge. Several years
after Kanaga and Welch launched the airport, they sold it to the California
Turkey Growers Association, which turned it into a turkey and chicken ranch. City Bought It
in 1962 The city
purchased the property in 1962 and expanded the airport with a $20,000 loan
from Lockheed Corp. Since then
growth has been slow but steady. Over the past decade, nearly $4 million in
federal grants has helped pay for improvements to fencing, the runway, taxiway
and apron and lighting. Today, about 240
aircraft are based at the airport, including commuters who travel to Orange
County and Los Angeles. As many as 82,000 recreational and business flights
take off and touch down annually on the 4,570-foot asphalt runway. The dozen
businesses include Aero Tech Academy and MY Air, both offering flight training,
aerobatic instructor Redlands Aerosports and maintenance provider Red Aero. Operating Costs Annual operating
costs for the city-owned and -operated airport are estimated at $360,488 in the
2008-09 budget. One key to
turning a profit has been market value ground-lease agreements, rather than
below-market value as in previous years, Housley said. For example, on
Tuesday, the Redlands City Council likely will approve a new lease agreement
with the Redlands Hangar Owners' Association. The city expects to collect $10,000
more per year under the new terms, in line with fees at nearby airports. The city has
renegotiated other leases and acquired about 20 percent of the airport's
hangars. Airport officials have trimmed energy and other overhead costs and
generated more revenue through airplane fuel sales and services. Other Airport
Closing One factor
spurring the growth has been the closing of Rialto Municipal Airport, a process
that began last year. About 250 aircraft were based there. "I was just
over there (in Rialto)," Biglow said as she readied for takeoff in
Redlands. "The café is closed; there is only transit traffic in and
out." Only about 13
percent of pilots based at Rialto's airport live in that city, said Rich
Scanlan, Rialto's director of aviation and solid waste management. "People are
looking for an alternative," Housley said. Creating a Niche Consulting firm
Coffman & Associates lists seven airports within 30 nautical miles in its
most recent Redlands airport master plan. It includes Rialto, along with San
Bernardino and Ontario international airports and Apple Valley, Cable, Chino
and Corona municipal airports. Housley said
Redlands' airport complements rather than competes with San Bernardino
International, which recently approved a $9 million, 65,000-square-foot hangar
for corporate jets. Larger planes can use its 10,000-foot runway and use
instrument-approach procedures. "Riverside
Municipal Airport is probably the closest real competitor," said Housley. The Redlands
airport caters to planes weighing no more than 12,500 pounds. Some pilots said
they prefer Redlands to avoid commercial airliners and stay clear of controlled
air space. The airport
generates about $16 million in overall economic activity and provides 46 jobs,
Coffman & Associates reported. About 20 visitors arrive daily and spend
$1,170 and 2.6 days in Redlands, consultants said. For 27-year-old
pilot and entrepreneur Ben Cook, the airport offered a scenic location for his
brewery and a 4,640-square-foot building for the fermenting and bottling
equipment he purchased from the Monte Carlo Casino in Las Vegas. He hopes to
attract locals who otherwise wouldn't venture to the airport. "A lot of
people think aviation is out of reach," Cook said. "It's really
not." |
