Economic development part of Greeley-Weld Airport plan

GREELEY – When it comes to attracting corporations looking for places to expand or relocate, if your community does not have an airport, even one primarily dedicated to general aviation, you can just wave as the scouts fly by.

Therefore, it has been the position of the leadership at Greeley-Weld County Airport that anticipating and preparing for whatever economic opportunity might come its way is a very good idea.

“Greeley was one of the first airports to sign up for the designation as an airport development zone,´ said Peter Roskop, from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

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“The legislation was passed in 2005 as a tool for economic development. It requires just a one-page application, and so far 12 airports have signed on.”

Roskop explained that if a corporation involved in aviation manufacturing or development relocates at a designated airport, that company is eligible for a $1,200 tax credit for every job it creates above its two-year average.

“The benefit to the company comes only with net new jobs,” Roskop said. “It can’t just move and claim credit for the existing jobs. What the legislation does is incentivize clean industry that has high wages to locate here.”

Mike Reisman, manager of the airport, acknowledged that while the designation might be immediately beneficial for an airport like Centennial, Greeley-Weld has yet to be contacted by any company looking for a relocation site.

“Aviation development is such a narrow group of industries,” he said. “But we see this status as a long-term economic resource. We wanted to get it into our resume so that if the opportunity came our way we’d be good to go.”

Economic impact

Reisman is well aware that the Colorado Department of Transportation’s last economic impact study – performed in 2003 – indicated that the Greeley-Weld Airport supported 195 jobs, with $6 million in wages and $17.2 million worth of economic activity. Being ready to improve those numbers when opportunity presents itself continues to drive the airport’s plans for growth. If Greeley is to attract corporations with flight departments that routinely shuttle executives in and out in slender Lear Jets, then having runways long enough for comfortable landings and a nice reception area makes good economic sense.

In 2000 the airport opened a new 6,000-square-foot terminal, and in 2002, it completed a $21 million expansion.

Yet for all the improvements to the airport’s infrastructure calculated to attract corporate interest, not everyone loves growth or buys the “build it and they will come” argument. Longtime fans of the little Barnstormer Restaurant in the old terminal grumbled when their cozy “club” got supersized in the new terminal. And the tower that airport administrators and instructors from the Aims Community College aviation program see as a necessary addition for safety’s sake, others dislike on principle.

“I would say it’s about 50/50,´ said Linda Belleau, owner of the Barnstormer Restaurant. “Some people, especially in real estate, see a tower as an extra layer of control that they don’t feel they need. People fly because they love the freedom. They approach carefully.”

For Gina West, Aims director of flight training, a tower is an important safety feature for the airport.

“The tower is a big deal,” she said. “As the traffic at the airport increases, it will be necessary.”

Need for controllers

Currently, the local debate on whether a tower is a good idea focuses on the airport’s traffic count and how that figures into the equation by which the Federal Aviation Administration calculates its share of the cost.

But there is another gathering national need that a tower might help mitigate. In brief, when Ronald Reagan fired 11,345 air traffic controllers in 1981 (and permanently banned those individuals from federal service), he set a new generation of air traffic control operators on a collision course with retirement.

According to the National Air Traffic Controllers association, higher than anticipated ATC retirements, mandatory at age 56, and total controller attrition have left the United States with the lowest number of fully trained and certified controllers since 1992.

According to a CNN report in December, of the 1,800 controllers hired in 2006, only 40 are fully trained. Moreover, there were 856 retirements in 2007, representing 7.4 percent of the total experienced work force. This at a time when air traffic is increasing.

Recognizing the need for more trained controllers, the Aims aviation program, with its flight school based at the airport, will launch an ATC program in the fall of 2008.

“This is a well-designed program,” West said. “All the other approvals are in place, and we expect the board of trustees to approve it this spring. We will use simulators in our instruction, but a tower at the airport would add an important teaching tool.”

The aviation program at Aims, with its relationship with the airport, has established itself nationally as a flight school.

“Last year the airlines hired five students away from the program before they had completed the work for their certificates,´ said Greg Gaiser, flight instructor with the program. “There is high demand in aviation overall, and we will be seeing an increasing demand for aircraft controllers very soon.”

Steady growth

Reisman noted that the FAA was monitoring the airport’s progress as it seeks $6 million in funding for a tower.

“We don’t want to go into debt,” he said. “We are looking to our legislators to help us in the new cycle of earmark funding.”

Meanwhile, with or without a tower in 2008, the growth at the airport is steady and focused on economic development.

“We have two new structures almost ready for occupancy that will open up eight new corporate hangars and accommodate upwards of 30 aircraft,” Reisman said. “These are condo hangars. A couple of them are already sold.”

He added that the Air National Guard facility next door just had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new building. On the medical front, North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley is home to the regional Western States Burn Center.

“With the burn center, it is important to be able to transport patients long distances quickly,” Reisman said. “And from the point of view of insurance companies, it is sometimes more cost-effective to fly a doctor to a remote location than to bring a sick or injured patient to the hospital.”

Reflecting regional population growth and increasing air transport needs generally, in December, Med-Trans Corp. and NCMC announced their partnership and the addition of a second helicopter to their medical air transport service. The name was changed from AirLife of Greeley to North Colorado Med Evac on Feb. 1.

While the more dramatic growth in Northern Colorado has been in Larimer County, Weld County has not taken that as an invitation to sit back and wait for opportunity to take a turn to the east. The Greeley-Weld County Airport has been positioned to anticipate that turn.