Business travelers dominant users of local airport

The Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport is unique in the fact that it is jointly owned and operated by both Fort Collins and Loveland, although the airport is actually in the city limits of Loveland.”We were funded and operated under the Airport Authority until 1989, when it was disbanded,” said Fred Anderton, airport director. “Now we operate directly under the city governments of both Fort Collins and Loveland. The airport is owned 50-50 by both cities. However, for our day-to-day operations, we work under the Airport Department in the city of Loveland.”
The operating budget for the airport was $260,000 in 1996, which is raised by the airport.
“We lease out some services to private concerns, such as space for flight instruction and concessions,” Anderton said. “Then with concessions, renting out hangars and landing fees, we are able to raise enough money to run the day-to-day operation.
The airport does receive federal assistance and this year will receive $500,000 from the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We have to apply annually for a grant, and we have to identify the projects we want to work on,” Anderton said. “The FAA grants must be matched by 10 percent of local funds. We can also apply for state grants, which must be matched by 50 percent of local funds.”
Last year, Loveland and Fort Collins each contributed $60,000 to the airport, and the majority of that $120,000 was in matching funds for state and federal grant money. Each year, Anderton prepares and presents his budget to city councils in both cities. The cities also must approve a five-year capital-improvement plan.
“We present these plans to the FAA, the state and both city councils,” he said.
Although it can be challenging to get cities to agree on projects, Anderton says that for the past six years, both cities have been in agreement on projects and improvements for the airport.
Most of the passengers at the airport are business travelers.
“About 80 to 85 percent of the people who fly out of here are business travelers,” Anderton said. “We draw people from Longmont, Laramie, Greeley and Estes Park.”
Some businesses such as Hewlett-Packard Co. have a company jet at the airport. Next to the airport, a privately owned industrial park in Loveland has three corporate hangars with two jets and a turbo-prop. The park has a taxiway from the hangars to the runway, a half mile away, at the Fort Collins-Loveland airport.
The Fort Collins-Loveland airport has been negotiating for a new shuttle service, Mountain Air Express, known as Max Air. The added shuttle service would almost double passenger traffic at the airport, taking enplanements from 35,000 in 1996 to 60,000 this year if Max Air begins service there.
The extra passenger traffic would make it necessary to expand the terminal building, he added.
Currently, United Express flies five flights a day to Denver International Airport, a service used mostly by business travelers.
Max Air has a contract with Western Pacific and is more than 50 percent owned by Western Pacific. “We are a separate company,” McClain said, “We have over $4 million from investors. When we get more investors and do a public offering, then West Pac will only own about 30 percent of us.”
McClain points out that these are no-frills flights that offer good service at reasonable prices. “There are no gourmet meals,” he said. “But we do have Starbucks coffee, and the planes are incredibly quiet. We fly Dornier turbo-props.” McClain says wide aisles and wide, comfortable seats add to the quality of the flight. Plus, he says, they never oversell a flight, because each customer gives them a credit card number and although you can cancel or change a flight in advance – no shows must pay for their seats
Over the last two years, the airport added 50 new hangars. “We have 130 private aircraft that rent space here,” said Anderton.
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