With expected area growth, user-run Pearson Field is among airports to watch statewide
Developer John McKibbin and his friends spend two evenings each week working on their joint-owned World War II-era AT-6 trainer aircraft at Pearson Field next to historic Fort Vancouver. The shiny metal craft, completely restored to its original beauty, is quite an elaborate toy, and thanks to the city of Vancouver, they have an elaborate playground for that plane and several others like the Piper Cherokee above.
And thanks to McKibbin and others like him, the city has an airfield that actually makes money. That’s because the airfield, much more than a playground, is run by the business people who use it each day. The city owns the field, which carries a $34 million annual operating budget. It is a designated Enterprise Fund facility, which means the users of the facility have the responsibility to generate the cash to keep it open.
And they do. In between waxing and aileron adjustments on their own planes, the entrepreneurial pilots who run the field generate a little over $38 million each year through leasing operations.
"It’s very common (to have a pilot-run field), but what is uncommon is that it actually cash-flows," said McKibbin.
According to the Washington State Department of Transportation Aviation Division, the field not only generates more than $38 million annually, it supports more than 600 jobs, creating close to $12 million in labor earnings.
The field is home to 175 aircraft – 40 of which are used for business purposes. It also hosts a flight school and avionics shop and serves as a jump-off for sight-seeing flights as well as commercial and emergency services operations throughout the state.
"As far as an economic engine, I would call it a hidden power house," said George Welsh, a private pilot and president of Pearson Field Advocates for General Aviation, an organization dedicated to promoting the airfield.
The power house he speaks of may not be hidden for long, if the state has anything to do with it. WSDOT is in the middle of examining all 140 public use airports throughout the state, to determine which ones should get priority in terms of federal and state funding. The Long Range Air Transportation Study, commissioned by Governor Christine Gregoire in 2005, looks at all aspects of these ports. LATS is a three-phase process. The first phase, completed in September 2006, assessed the general operation of these ports in relation to their home regions. It focused on Spokane, Puget Sound, Southwest Washington and the Tri-Cities area. The findings point to Pearson as a key airport for future use. Not only is it the only one of its size in Southwest Washington, it sits in a region that is second only to Puget Sound in terms of growth, with an expected population increase of 400,000 in the next 20 years.
The study asserts this growth underscores the urgency for long-range aviation planning. Also, the study revealed more than 600 aircraft throughout the state sit on a waiting list, looking for a field to call home.
Phases two and three are scheduled for completion by July 2008. Phase two will analyze the needs of each airport in relation to carrying capacity, expected traffic, and forecasted market needs. In the final phase, the governor will appoint 10 industry experts to a new Aviation Planning Council. This council will provide recommendations on how best to meet the state’s future aviation needs, and which airports to develop further.
Pearson Field Manager Sean Lochran is the only person employed by the city on behalf of the airport. He agrees that it is unique to see a field like Pearson making money, and said he likes the look of the numbers generated by the study, and says that the location of the airport only adds to its promise as a major hub in the near future.
"Southwest Washington is fairly deficient in aviation, and (Pearson) is in just such a great location," he said. "In a lot of other places, you land at the public use airport and you’re out in the middle of nowhere. But here, you’re right in the middle of the city."
If the predictions are to be trusted, the future of Pearson Field is bright. And boosters such as Welsh are happy to point to the added benefits to the community in terms of its self-directed revenue stream.
"What I like is that (Pearson Field) provides a good quantity of community support at no expense to the community," he said.
