Late last year, the new owners of Wall-based Monmouth Executive Airport banned the two major aerial advertising companies that had used the private facility to fly over the beaches in Monmouth and Ocean counties. They also evicted sky-diving companies, as well as independent pilots who performed either service.
The ban on banners leaves both David Dempsey, owner of Woodbine-based High Exposure Inc., and John Wells, co-owner of Sparta-based United Aerial Advertising, scrambling to find another nearby airport from which to fly advertisements. With Memorial Day weekend here, the situation may require both men to fly from farther away, which means they’ll either lose substantial revenue by eating the extra costs or raise their rates beyond the affordability of some advertisers.
“It’s going to impact the Jersey Shore experience,” said Robert Hilton, executive director of the Jersey Shore Convention and Visitors Bureau. “What we’re selling, really, is memories. It’s really the add-on stuff that makes any trip anywhere, whether it be here (on) the Jersey Shore or whatever, really memorable. Those banners on the airplanes were just part of the novelty of what the Jersey Shore represents. The airport people are kind of missing the historical aspect.”
Safety vs. image
Alan Antaki, the airport’s manager, said the ban reflects safety concerns about slower banner and skydiving airplanes operating on the same 7,300-foot runway as faster jets.
Dempsey and Wells disagree, however, attributing it more to the owners’ desires to attract a wealthier class of clientele to achieve a richer image.
“I’m not putting them down. They’re doing a very dangerous job, and everybody loves the banner planes on the beaches, but without a doubt there were accidents,” Antaki said. “There was an accident less than a year ago where one of the pilots did a great job of actually saving himself and not harming anybody, but there was an accident. Banner towing is one of the most dangerous aviation activities. Banner towing is usually done at small airports, where there are no jets.”
Antaki said banner and skydiving airplanes accounted for a negligible amount of the airport’s revenue, but the opposite holds true for the evicted companies. Dempsey, who also flies out of airports throughout Maryland, New York and South Jersey, estimated 25 percent of his company’s income came from Monmouth Executive Airport. Meanwhile, Wells, who operated almost exclusively out of the facility, estimated 90 percent of his company’s revenue came from it.
“We’re in the process still of trying to obtain another location that’s in closer proximity to that Belmar area, but there’s not quite the same sense of urgency for other powers (that we’re) negotiating with to see us through in as timely a way as we would like,” said Dempsey, who used Monmouth Executive Airport for six years.
Dempsey also flies out of Eagles Nest Airport in the West Creek section of Eagleswood, which he plans to use this summer should he fail to find a closer spot. His rates, however, will skyrocket to cover the costs of flying from farther away. He envisions raising them to a range of $670 to $1,015 per flight, compared with $180 to $700 when he flew from Wall.
Regulatory hurdles
Meanwhile, Wells, a full-time commercial pilot for American Airlines, received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to move his business into Lakewood Airport, but he still needs to clear some last-minute regulatory hurdles that threaten to delay the transition. Should the deal fall through, Wells will not increase his rate of $450 per hour. Instead, he may either eat the extra money it costs to travel from farther away or charge advertisers more for longer flights. But he says he may have to close his business after this summer if he does not raise his rates.
“This is going to be a huge hit if we can’t operate,” said Wells, who used Monmouth Executive Airport for 20 years. “(It’s) the first big weekends that hurt the most. I’m going to get through it somehow, but I’ll be taking it on the chin real bad if I have to fly long, long distances just to get to the beach. Obviously, I have clients in place and they have rates and I’m going to honor those rates, but I’m going to be losing quite a bit of money on having to fly them from a much further distance away.”
The projected increase in prices worries Sergio Cucci, director of sales for Nanina’s in the Park, a Belleville-based banquet hall, which sells its pasta sauce in local supermarkets. He began advertising the product through Dempsey’s High Exposure Inc. in 2009. Cucci still plans to advertise this weekend, but for prices at least 87 percent higher than previous years, which makes him doubt that he will buy as many advertisements throughout the rest of this summer as previous years.
“It’s hard to equate how much business we do from the aerial ads, but (we hear) people say, ‘Hey, we saw the banners, we saw the banners,’ ” he said. “We (have) constantly (heard) that for the last few seasons, so we know it’s working, we know people are seeing them. If we’re not out there, we’re not going to hear feedback, which, in turn, probably turns into dollars.”
Story and photo: http://www.thedailyjournal.com
David Dempsey, owner of High Exposure Inc., holds letter 'S' at Eagles Nest Airport in Eagleswood. His and other banner-towing businesses were ousted from Monmouth Executive Airport.
John Wells of United Aerial Advertising prepares a banner for towing.
WALL — Kicking the banner airplane businesses out of Monmouth Executive Airport, as the new owners plan to do, would be a kick in the gut to the Jersey Shore, said one banner tower.
“Aerial advertising has been a staple of the Jersey Shore for more than 80 years,” said John Wells, co-owner of United Aerial Advertising. “This is huge. It would be as bad as closing down the Stone Pony.”
Wells said his company, and the other banner plane business at Monmouth, High Exposure Aerial Advertising, account for about 50 percent of the banner business at the Shore.
Another company operates out of Lakewood Airport, Aerial Sign North, and another in South Jersey, Paramount Air Service. Aside from one other national company, the rest of the banner business is taken up by solo pilots, Wells said.
Wells, a former Alaska bush pilot who now flies Boeing 767s internationally for American Airlines, has co-owned United Aerial for six years with another American Airlines pilot, Eric Kowalski.
Limited options
Wells says his options are limited. There isn’t enough space at Lakewood Airport for another operator, Wells and another company owner said.
Neither Wells nor David Dempsey, owner of High Exposure, have received formal notice evicting them, they said. A representative for the new owner said Thursday that negotiations to find another place to operate for both the banner plane companies and Skydive Jersey Shore will begin shortly.
Both men said a local farmer’s field might work for picking up and dropping off banners. The banners, about 150 feet long and 40 to 50 feet high, are picked up by a hook hanging from the plane’s tail as the plane flies 20 feet off the ground. Most of the planes used in the business are called tail draggers, Wells said.
The companies still might be able to fly in and out of the airport, using another field to pick up their banners, but even that is uncertain, Dempsey said.
High Exposure, in business for 18 years, runs 10 aircraft along the Jersey Shore and the beaches of New York. Dempsey’s company is based in Woodbine. It flies one to five airplanes out of Monmouth during the summer.
United, in business for 40 years, 20 out of Monmouth, flies five planes out of the airport. The company began operations in 1973 out of the now defunct Asbury Park airport, on Route 66 opposite the current Asbury Park Press building.
Beaches and football
Aside from the summer work, both companies fly banners for companies during Jets, Giants and Rutgers football games and personal ads for people at various times.
Both recently flew marriage proposals along beaches in Monmouth County.
“You never know how they turn out,” Dempsey said.
Wells performed a volunteer mission two Sundays ago when he flew a banner over New York with a tip line for information regarding a missing 14-year old autistic boy from Queens.
The evictions could drive United out of business, Wells said.
“It will be much more difficult to provide service to the Jersey Shore,” Wells said.
The ready access to Monmouth County keeps down the rates for those businesses.
If he finds another place to operate out of, it would still likely drive up costs for local businesses, he said.
For beach runs, High Exposure charges as low as $180 a flight or $2,600 a day, according to the company’s website.
Calls left at Skydive Jersey Shore were not returned.
Richard A. Asper, chairman of Aviation Professionals Group, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which led the negotiations for the airport’s sale, said the stock purchase agreement between Wall Aviation and Wall Herald Corporation, owned by the family of the late Ed Brown, took place several months ago. Details are still being worked out.
Asper said he could not disclose the price, citing confidentiality agreements that were part of the sale.
Source: http://www.app.com
November 23, 2013: No more banner planes at the Jersey Shore? Businesses fear their future at Monmouth Executive Airport (KBLM) - New Jersey
David Dempsey and his son, Nate, pose in one of the banner planes used by Dempsey's company, High Exposure Inc.
COURTESY DAVID DEMPSEY
~
~
John Wells of United Aerial Advertising prepares a banner for towing.
Photo COURTESY of UNITED AERIAL ADVERTISING
~
WALL — Kicking the banner airplane businesses out of Monmouth Executive Airport, as the new owners plan to do, would be a kick in the gut to the Jersey Shore, said one banner tower.
“Aerial advertising has been a staple of the Jersey Shore for more than 80 years,” said John Wells, co-owner of United Aerial Advertising. “This is huge. It would be as bad as closing down the Stone Pony.”
Wells said his company, and the other banner plane business at Monmouth, High Exposure Aerial Advertising, account for about 50 percent of the banner business at the Shore.
Another company operates out of Lakewood Airport, Aerial Sign North, and another in South Jersey, Paramount Air Service. Aside from one other national company, the rest of the banner business is taken up by solo pilots, Wells said.
Wells, a former Alaska bush pilot who now flies Boeing 767s internationally for American Airlines, has co-owned United Aerial for six years with another American Airlines pilot, Eric Kowalski.
Limited options
Wells says his options are limited. There isn’t enough space at Lakewood Airport for another operator, Wells and another company owner said.
Neither Wells nor David Dempsey, owner of High Exposure, have received formal notice evicting them, they said. A representative for the new owner said Thursday that negotiations to find another place to operate for both the banner plane companies and Skydive Jersey Shore will begin shortly.
Both men said a local farmer’s field might work for picking up and dropping off banners. The banners, about 150 feet long and 40 to 50 feet high, are picked up by a hook hanging from the plane’s tail as the plane flies 20 feet off the ground. Most of the planes used in the business are called tail draggers, Wells said.
The companies still might be able to fly in and out of the airport, using another field to pick up their banners, but even that is uncertain, Dempsey said.
High Exposure, in business for 18 years, runs 10 aircraft along the Jersey Shore and the beaches of New York. Dempsey’s company is based in Woodbine. It flies one to five airplanes out of Monmouth during the summer.
United, in business for 40 years, 20 out of Monmouth, flies five planes out of the airport. The company began operations in 1973 out of the now defunct Asbury Park airport, on Route 66 opposite the current Asbury Park Press building.
Beaches and football
Aside from the summer work, both companies fly banners for companies during Jets, Giants and Rutgers football games and personal ads for people at various times.
Both recently flew marriage proposals along beaches in Monmouth County.
“You never know how they turn out,” Dempsey said.
Wells performed a volunteer mission two Sundays ago when he flew a banner over New York with a tip line for information regarding a missing 14-year old autistic boy from Queens.
The evictions could drive United out of business, Wells said.
“It will be much more difficult to provide service to the Jersey Shore,” Wells said.
The ready access to Monmouth County keeps down the rates for those businesses.
If he finds another place to operate out of, it would still likely drive up costs for local businesses, he said.
For beach runs, High Exposure charges as low as $180 a flight or $2,600 a day, according to the company’s website.
Calls left at Skydive Jersey Shore were not returned.
Richard A. Asper, chairman of Aviation Professionals Group, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which led the negotiations for the airport’s sale, said the stock purchase agreement between Wall Aviation and Wall Herald Corporation, owned by the family of the late Ed Brown, took place several months ago. Details are still being worked out.
Asper said he could not disclose the price, citing confidentiality agreements that were part of the sale.
Source: http://www.app.com
No comments:
Post a Comment