The value of an airport
Getting the word out
Since taking office in January, I have been in many remarkable places. Recently, I found myself in a golf cart at Ohio’s Akron Fulton International Airport (AKR) with a member of the city’s chamber of commerce during the Props and Pistons Festival. While I often find myself preaching to the choir—you, our members—about the value of airports, here I found a willing and receptive audience. This energetic city employee had no idea about the value of his airport, and it was a thrill to tell him. His amazement and how he absorbed my passionate sermon got me thinking about how we all can—and should—preach to others about the importance of small airports.
The Akron airport is like most of the 5,000-plus public-use airports that serve general aviation throughout this country. Its single, paved 6,330-foot-long runway serves nearly 50,000 aircraft operations each year. It has a rich history, starting as a U.S. naval air station in 1929, and is home to the Goodyear Airdock where the first lighter-than-air ships and the famous Corsairs were built. It has an active FBO in Summit Air, which offers fuel and hangar rental to local and transient pilots. It has a maintenance facility to service a wide spectrum of aircraft, and it is home to 84 based aircraft. This description could apply to nearly any GA airport in this country, and that’s what I told my rapt passenger during our golf cart tour. An airport like AKR serves and benefits so much of the pilot community.
But I also wanted to make sure he understood what else this airport does for the nonflying community. I told him of the mechanics and line personnel there who put food on their table with the wages they earn, and of the young instructors grooming the next generation of pilots, many of whom go on to be airline pilots (he believed most airline pilots come out of the military—not anymore!). I explained the community services such as the police and fire departments that rely on the services of the Akron airport (his face lit up when I said that, telling me enthusiastically that, yes, the Akron police department had a helicopter based there); and that businesses surrounding the airport were built there because proximity to an airport allows company managers from headquarters to easily visit by flying into Akron directly. He told me he hadn’t realized there was so much going on “behind the airport fence.” And since I was on a roll, I continued with more examples of great things happening at airports, including humanitarian flights from volunteer pilot organizations such as Angel Flight, Veterans Airlift Command, and Pilots N Paws; trade schools on airports training the next generation of mechanics (we need more than 400,000 mechanics over the next decade); and disaster-relief flights from volunteer pilots following wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. He was suitably overwhelmed by the contributions just one small airport provides to its local community.We need to educate the public on the value of our airports.
My narrative took me back to another encounter where the lack of understanding for small airports caught my attention. Shortly after taking my new role at AOPA, I was in Bend, Oregon, speaking with the airport manager about airport economics. I was advocating to invest in things that drive airport activity and stronger airport economics, like compatible use development (e.g., light manufacturing), hangars, flight schools, maintenance operations, fuel flowage fees, even restaurants. In my view, the city should be investing in the airport so it delivers the most value it can to the community. However, the airport manager shared that she was largely on her own to “make the airport work” and that city leaders believed the airport was a playground for the rich to play with their “toys.” In hearing this, a light went off, and I understood. It is about perception, knowledge, and understanding. Once people are affected by an airport—their child needs a medical transport that an Angel Flight volunteer pilot provides, or a person’s home is saved by an aerial firefighter, or their neighbor’s young daughter ends up being the pilot on their airline flight home from vacation, or a hurricane-ravaged community receives much-needed supplies—they get it.
We all need to educate the public on the value of our airports. We are so fortunate in this country to have the airport support system we have. It makes our country richer and more vibrant. We, as pilots and users of the system, know this. Time to spread the word. Will you join me? 
