Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Pangborn Memorial Airport (KEAT) manager quits for job in Vail, Colorado.

Gregory Phillips
Pangborn Memorial Airport Director


By Christine Pratt
Tuesday, December 13, 2011

WENATCHEE — The director of Pangborn Memorial Airport has resigned to accept the top job at Eagle County Regional Airport in Vail, Colo., a mega mecca for snow sports.

Greg Phillips, who was hired 18 months ago to run Pangborn, said Tuesday that the Colorado job was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“Everybody here has been fantastic,” he said. “I’m absolutely not leaving because there’s anything wrong here. The community has been enthusiastically supportive. The ports and the airport governing board has been fantastic to work with.”

Phillips, 54, said his last day at Pangborn will be Jan. 25. He gave his notice Dec. 6 to the directors the ports of Chelan and Douglas counties, which jointly operate the airport.

Mark Urdahl, director of the Port of Chelan, said Tuesday that discussions about how to find a replacement for Phillips would begin next week.

He said the airport’s governing board would likely name an interim director until a permanent replacement is hired.

He declined to comment further until the board, together, comes up with a plan.

Currently, operations manager Ron Ross is second in command at Pangborn, Urdahl said.

Phillips is leaving an airport with 50,000 annual boardings on regularly scheduled commercial flights served by a single airline, Horizon Air.

The Eagle County airport has about 200,000 annual boardings and is served by four major airlines with connections to 11 cities all over the country, including Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and New York.

The new job will give Phillips an annual salary of $125,000, a living allowance and car. His current annual salary at Pangborn is $103,000.

“It’s a chance to take an airport with a significant resort population and work to stabilize service year round,” he said. “They’re hoping to develop an international market.”

Phillips has been a leading proponent since his hire in early 2010 to extend the runway at Pangborn to serve larger jets.

An environmental-impact study is currently underway to assess the runway project. He said the current timeline has the study wrapped up in February.

Planning is still underway to determine how much private property will need to be taken through eminent domain to acquire lands needed for the runway expansion.

Construction next spring will finish a taxiway lighting project that began last fall. The project is already designed, funded and bid, he said.

“The business I work in is not like being an accountant or an attorney, where there are 10 firms to choose from in a town,” he said. “It’s one airport to a town, and it means moving if you’re changing jobs.”

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