DAN GLEITER The Patriot-News
One of Penn State's Life Lion helicopters lands at Carlisle Airport.
Think of airports and places like Harrisburg International and BWI come to mind.
But 75 percent of air traffic in the United States isn’t the big Delta Airlines or US Airways variety, but aircraft owned and operated by private individuals and businesses for leisure or corporate use, according to a 2004 report by the Transportation Security Administration.
And much of that air traffic flows through smaller privately owned airports such as Carlisle Airport in South Middleton Township.
These airports are seen as economic drivers in their communities, helping retain businesses and attract new ones. Carlisle Airport generates an estimated $7 million in annual economic activity, according to a 2010 study done for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
But each month at least one airport goes out of business somewhere in the United States, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Most often the facilities that close are ones like Carlisle Airport, which despite being a public airport is not eligible for federal money because of its for-profit private ownership, said Chris Dancy, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
“Often times they can get substantially more money if they sell their property to developers than if they continue to operate it as an airport,” Dancy said.
Cumberland County officials say the county can’t allow that to happen to Carlisle Airport.
“It’s essentially irreplaceable,” said county Commission Chairman Gary Eichelberger, who in June 2009 asked the county’s nonprofit economic development office to do a study on how best to preserve Carlisle Airport and maximize its potential.
The results of that study — done at no cost to the county by a volunteer task force — were released this month.
The findings say the airport would benefit and be more viable with several improvements.
These start with upgrading the runway and adding a parallel taxiway so aircraft waiting to land don’t have to stay in a holding pattern overhead until the runway is clear.
Businesses and users also told the task force Carlisle Airport needs closer lodging, better access to ground transportation, such as rental cars, and expanded onsite facilities like a business lounge.
Jim Kingsborough, a member of the group that has owned Carlisle Airport since 1997, would not say whether the airport is profitable.
He said recreational flying is down due to the economy and higher fuel costs. But business travel remains steady.
While Kingsborough is pleased with the county report, saying it is generally positive, he’s not happy about a more than doubling of the airport’s property assessment that occurred as part of Cumberland’s 2010 county-wide revaluing of land. The airport is not tax-exempt.
“That’s been a heavy anchor on us,” Kingsborough said. The airport got its assessment lowered somewhat by appealing this year, and the airport plans to appeal the assessment again in the spring.
Eichelberger regrets that the reassessment — which he voted against when it came to certifying the results — is akin to the county saying one thing and doing another when it comes to preserving the airport.
“We may, as a county, be shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said.
The report suggests tax breaks and tax incentives could be the most effective strategies in effecting improvements.
The county in past years has considered acquiring the airport, so it would be publicly owned and qualify for federal money. In 1998, the now-defunct county transportation authority sought an FAA grant to buy the airport, but the deal fell through.
This new report says public ownership isn’t the panacea it once was, as no federal programs seem safe because of the national debt. Plus, “The county is not looking to own the airport,” Eichelberger said.
He said the study’s objective was being ready with a plan before things get to where the owners can’t run the airport anymore, or decide they don’t want to and there’s no one to succeed them.
One alternative could be an arrangement where the county and municipalities team with a group of private investors in a transition that could lead to eventual public ownership of the airport, Eichelberger said. Officials in Carlisle and South Middleton have expressed interest in being part of such a venture, he said.
Kingsborough declined to say how long the current owners are willing to hold on to the airport. But even if the price is right from a developer, getting out from under a public use airport isn’t as easy as just walking away.
Robert Rockmaker, executive director of the Aviation Council of Pennsylvania, said while Carlisle doesn’t qualify for the big FAA money, it is eligible for state grants for some improvements. Any airport receiving state money is obligated to stay a public airport for 10 years from the date of project completion, or the airport may have to pay the money back.
That doesn’t make it impossible for Carlisle Airport to be sold into another use, but it makes it considerably more challenging to do so, Rockmaker said.
PennDOT spokeswoman Erin Waters said Carlisle Airport since 2005 has gotten $1.2 million from the state. The state money comes from an aviation fuel tax.
BY THE NUMBERS
1963: Date Carlisle Airport was established
4,008 feet: Length of runway
60: Number of aircraft based there
1: Life Lion helicopter to cover the West Shore
67: Daily takeoffs or landings, many involving businesses and institutions, including U.S. Army War College, Dickinson College, Carlisle Events, Gannett Fleming, Giant Foods, PPG Industries
Sources: www.airnav.com, Cumberland County Economic Development Carlisle Airport Feasibility Study, airport owners
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