Kalispell City Airport (2)Joey:
Sorry I did not get to spend more time with you on your recent visit to
Montana for the Aviation Conference. Thank you for visiting our GA
airport in Kalispell. I do have one item I could use some professional
help on. Our City Council and some senior management have it stuck in
their heads that our little GA airport should have a detailed business
plan in place to show how it makes this huge profit. It has to justify
its existence. And how this huge profit can be used to maintain the
airport. As you know, small GA airports barely survive little lone
generate enough profit to maintain itself. Like the large commercial
airports and large GA airports, we need to rely on FAA funding to stay
alive. It appears the leadership wants us to prove that the airport can
stay in the black without any outside assistance, including the City as
its owner. Of course this is not possible. The FAA has offered to
build us a completely new airport at the tune of $14.8 million dollars
and then give us up to $150,000 annually to maintain it. Now that is
possible. Even though our Economic Impact Study shows that we generate,
directly and indirectly, $24 million dollars for our community they
don't understand the intangible asset of having an airport in your
community. I have to put a dollar value on just having an airport. Of
course we are fighting the conventional wisdom that airports are only
here to service a select few rich customers. I currently operate the
airport on a budget of less than $100,000 and this is not computing in
their brains.
Do you have any information that I can use to convince our City Council
that we need to accept the FAA funding like most other airports do. I
need data to show them that FAA funding is almost essential to building
and maintaining an FAA approved airport. I need convincing evidence to
show them that it can be done.
Can you help?
Fred A. Leistiko
Airport Manager
City of Kalispell
P.O. Box 1997
Kalispell, MT 59903
406-250-3065