Small aircraft, big business

Vermont Business Magazine, Nov 01, 2004 by Kelley, Kevin

Stowe Soaring makes "a couple of thousand" glider flights during the summer months, when it employs four full-time and three part-time pilots, Whitcomb reports. Some local residents as well as many tourists go for glides that range in duration from 10 to 40 minutes and that cost between $69 and $159 per person, Whitcomb says. Stowe Soaring has four gliders of its own, and it also provides eight privately owned gliders at the airport with air-towing services.

Private flights are also fairly frequent on a seasonal basis at other Vermont airports situated near major resorts, including Mount Snow, Sugarbush and Basin Harbor.

At a few other Vermont airports, however, business used to be better.

Business-Related

The Caledonia County State Airport once thrummed with corporate jets shuttling executives to and from manufacturing companies in the -St Johnsbury area, says airport manager Tom Winans. EHV-Weidman, in particular, was an important regular user of the airport.

"But all that sort of traffic has evaporated" as a result of the closing or contraction of several local firms in recent years, Winans says.

Recreational travel, including flights to second homes, also does not account for much activity at the airport, Winans adds.

Today, the Caledonia field serves mainly single-engine passenger planes, 22 or which are based at the facility. A typical flier may be a local insurance salesman, attorney or doctor, Winans says, citing the case of one physician who regularly flies his own plane from Lyndon to an airport near the Veterans Administration hospital in White River junction.

Hartness State Airport in Springfield also used to host many more businessrelated flights than is currently the case. The demise of much of the areds precision tools industry has made Hartness a much quieter facility, observes Shayne Wilcox, a pilot and manager for Crown Point Aviation. Precision Airlines also offered regularly scheduled commuter flights at Hartness until its operating partner, Eastern Airlines, went out of business in 1991.

Crown Point Aviation provides aircraft maintenance services for private planes using Hartness. The small company also offers flight instruction and scenic tours, Wilcox says, estimating that he pilots fewer than 30 of those tourist flights per year.

Hartness' traffic is now limited to private planes used mainly for recreation. It is the closest airport to the Okemo ski resort, and it also serves owners of second homes in the Woodstock area.

Package Deal

Even though most Vermont airports do not generate a profit, it is in the state's economic interest to keep them open, argues Owen, the VTrans aviation project manager. Amtrak also does not make money on its Vermont services, but state officials have agreed to subsidize passenger rail operations because of its spinoff benefits, Owen notes.

About $1 million in public funds are set aside each year to maintain the 10 state airports, Owen estimates. But, he adds, the state pays only a small share for capital improvements such as runway reconstruction, with the federal government covering 95 percent of those costs.