Airport Air Traffic Controller Chris Anderson directs a plane into Valdosta Regional Airport Friday afternoon.
Brandon Powers
Brandon Powers
VALDOSTA — A 2010 Georgia Department of Transportation study found that the Valdosta Regional Airport accounts for a total of 260 jobs in the area with a $7.8 million payroll and a total economic output of $25.1 million.
The data for jobs breaks down three ways: direct, indirect and induced.
In a sense, it’s like tossing a stone in a lake and watching the concentric circles form.
Direct jobs are just what they sound like, jobs involving working directly for the airport: construction, baggage handlers and fire crew, for example.
Spending for the airport’s yearly construction accounts for 35-40 construction jobs each year.
Indirect jobs are ones removed from direct jobs. These involve people and companies who are affected by the airport — say the companies that supply food and drinks to the Subway at the airport or the grocery store deli the air traffic controllers visit for lunch.
Induced jobs are twice removed, the third circle in the lake. The gas station where the delivery trucks stop, for example.
While the 2010 numbers are a good jumping-off place, there have been a few changes to the airport since the study.
One change is the addition of Air Methods subsidiary AirLife Georgia which utilizes a medivac helicopter and keeps a three-person crew on hand ready to head out.
“It brings a new capability to the region,” said Airport Manager Jim Galloway. “It’s not necessarily a direct economic impact, but it’s impact that the airport has on the region.”
Which gets at a more intangible benefit of the airport to the region. It provides easy access both into and out of South Georgia, offering quick travel for doctors, medical supplies and organ donations, Valdosta State University sports teams, businesses located in the area and outside businesses that are interested in utilizing the area.
The Valdosta Airport averages 36,000 enplanements a year. Airports that average more than 10,000 enplanements are eligible for $1 million in grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration each year, provided the money is used for capital improvements: enhancing safety, improving efficiency, etc.
For big capital improvement projects, 92.5 percent of that money comes from outside the local area, with 90 percent from the FAA and 2.5 percent from GDOT.
Because the airport enplanes 10,000 or more people a year, it’s entitled to $1 million of grant money from the FAA each year.
The other 7.5 percent comes from the $4.50 charge on every enplanement, $4.39 of which goes to the airport.
Every year, the airport and Airport Authority update projects for the airport’s rolling Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan.
The latest project was the construction of the airport’s new fire station.
The $3.1 million project started in 2013 and involved the demolition of two buildings, as well as the design and construction of two new buildings.
“Eighty percent of that $3.1 million was spent right here in the region and 92.5 percent of that $3.1 million came from outside the region.”
Now completed, the airport hosts an open house for the new fire station, 9 a.m., Sept. 19.
Other projects in recent years include a two-phase drainage project that improved drainage for the air field and a lighting project that put all-new runway and taxiway lights on the major runways and taxiways.
Future projects include installing an electrical vault with an emergency generator capable of powering the runway and taxiway lights in case there’s a power outage and the construction of an expanded commercial terminal apron.
Looking further into the future, Galloway would like to eventually see more flights offered at Valdosta Airport.
“We could easily handle three times the number of airline flights we have per day. It’d just be a matter of scheduling. I would like to see at some point, service to and from Orlando. But there’s no interest right now in the airlines expanding. I think if we can hold steady and work through this economic situation we find ourselves in throughout the nation, we’ll be ready.”
Story and Photos: http://www.valdostadailytimes.com
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