Kathryn's Report: Griffiss plans ‘not going as well as we expected’. Griffiss International Airport (KRME), Rome, New York.

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Griffiss plans ‘not going as well as we expected’. Griffiss International Airport (KRME), Rome, New York.

Mark DiOrio / Observer-Dispatch

Adam Brement, a line service professional with Million Air, moves in to place wheel wedges under the landing gear of a jet at Griffiss International Airport, August 04, 2011, in Rome, NY.

ROME — Three years ago, Million Air aviation company officials made their pitch to the Oneida County Board of Legislators for the contract to run the Griffiss International Airport’s fixed-base operations.

Within a few years, business would improve at the airport dramatically at the former Griffiss Air Force Base, and the county soon would be making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year off the deal, Chris Freeman, managing member of Million Air’s parent company, Freeman Holdings, told the legislators.

That revenue, however, hasn’t materialized, despite the county investing more than $900,000 for new fuel tanks for the expected aircraft traffic.

“It’s not going as well as we expected,” Freeman said.

A key part of the Million Air business plan had been to get fueling contracts for military aircraft. But aside from a couple of short-term engagements, the military planes haven’t come.

County officials said the deal with Million Air has been beneficial to their bottom line, even if revenues haven’t been as hoped. That’s because Million Air has taken on some airport-related costs, including employees and their benefits, they said.

“We are far better off with a private FBO,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said.

A fixed-base operator provides services to planes that use the airport, much like a full-service gas station does for a motor vehicle.

The airport is a key piece of Oneida County’s economic development plan. Millions in federal, state and local dollars have been invested to repair and improve the facility, but the county continues to lose money on the endeavor.

The airport ran a deficit of around $843,000 in 2010, airport officials said.

In 2007, the county’s airport was moved from Oriskany to the former Air Force base, which was shuttered in the 1990s when the federal government was looking to cut costs through a Base Realignment and Closure round.

Since then, the county has been seeking aviation-related businesses to locate at Griffiss and is trying to find other ways to capitalize on the massive runway.

By the numbers

In its 2008 presentation, Million Air officials said Oneida County would make $190,900 off the deal in 2009, and $205,100 in 2010.

Three years have elapsed, and the numbers are far lower than projected.

In 2010, the county’s net gain from the airport’s fixed-base operations was $32,992, Airport Commissioner Vernon Gray said.

Fuel fees to the county were expected to reach $86,000 in 2010, but came in around $62,000, records show. Under the contract, the county must give of its hangar rents to Million Air because the company manages them, and that’s why the county’s final net is lower, Gray said.

Freeman said Rome is the least successful of all the fixed-base operations he runs.

“I know we sustained a loss there last year,” he said. “I know it’s certainly not a profit center.”

Million Air operates in about 30 airports in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, according to the company website.

County Legislator Frank Tallarino, D-Rome, has been a critic of the deal from the start. He said it would have made better sense for the county to keep control of the fixed-base operations, and that the plan to get military planes was shaky from the start.

“Everything he said has not materialized,” Tallarino said of Freeman.

Military business?

Under Million Air’s plan, the runway was to be aggressively marketed for military training flights and also for planes transporting soldiers overseas.

The large quantities of fuel such planes use would be a major boost to Griffiss’ business, officials said.

In 2008, Million Air officials said they planned to capture overflow military business from Bangor International Airport in Bangor Maine.

So far, however, Bangor has managed to retain its clients.

Freeman said he and area officials had been trying to get a U.S. Customs and Border Protection office set up at Griffiss, but that’s been more complicated than expected.

Because the transport planes are bringing military personnel to and from other countries, a U.S. Customs Office would be required to get that business, officials said.

Still, Freeman said he remains committed to Griffiss.

“We hope to turn it around to be a profit center,” he said.

FUEL SALES

Fuel sales at Griffiss International Airport are on the rise but still aren’t approaching predicted levels. Oneida County receives eight cents for every gallon sold.