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Falcon Field overhaul continues
Publication: The Arizona Republic; Date: June 13, 2007
By Art Thomason and J.J. Hensley
Mesa's Falcon Field Airport for more than a yearflew beneath the radar of high-profile development at the city's largest airfield, Williams Gateway Airport.
But while Williams captured top billing as a burgeoning reliever airport and regional jobs center, Falcon Field didn't exactly circle the skies in a holding pattern.
With little acclaim, the historic, general aviation airport has been undergoing a major overhaul and is taking on a different face and a dramatically new way of doing business. Its roads and taxiways have been reconfigured to increase security, new businesses expand its aviation services and scores of hangars are being added to alleviate a waiting list.
The city-owned airport's most remarkable change, however, is a new business model designed to make it more competitive and eventually wean it from tax subsidies.
"We ran the numbers and looked at it from a financial perspective," said airport manager Corinne Nystrom. "In order for us to break even, we need to run the airport like a business. It was probably in the city's best interest to let the private sector take over."
Privatization as a prototype has ruffled a few feathers, including those of pilots voicing concern that lease rates for corporately owned hangars are likely to go through the ceiling. They also fear that the airport will start catering to the corporate jet crowd instead of the average, fly-for-fun pilot.
"It's good that we're getting some business aircraft hangars, but I don't think people on the waiting list are going to be able to afford them," said Jim Timm, executive director of the Arizona Pilots Association and a frequent Falcon Field flier. "Falcon Field is a very social airport. People get together, go from one hangar to another to visit and even hold weekend hangar parties."
As a municipal airport limited primarily to general aviation, Falcon Field's mission is far different from the broad range of objectives for Williams Gateway, which is owned and operated by an authority made up of Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek, the Gila River Indian Community and Phoenix.
Williams Gateway, for example, is examining plans for remodeling the passenger terminal as it woos commercial airline service while Falcon Field builds space to store more small aircraft and stays put with a living-room-size terminal in a building that houses the airport's administrative offices.
Nystrom said the city made the decision that it was going to allow the private sector to build and lease hangars. "And they can charge whatever they want to charge," she said.
The airport built most of the 413 hangars and leases them at rates comparable to those charged at other city-owned airports in the Valley.
"Realistically, the way this market generally works is that once word gets out that hangars are being built at Falcon Field, you have a lot of people suddenly showing an interest in basing their aircraft at Falcon Field," Nystrom said.
Fee hikes approved by the City Council last week for the rental of city-owned tie-downs, T-hangars and storage facilities will go into effect on Aug. 1. Nystrom said all fees go up 3.2 percent except for storage facilities, which increase by 8 percent.
Privately owned hangars will not be affected. They are under the airport's new business plan in which land is leased to private operators for building and leasing hangars. Since July 1, it has generated more than $600,000 in additional revenue, Nystrom said.
The beauty of the deal, she said, is that the city doesn't have to build and maintain the hangars.
New hangars and some businesses will occupy much of the remaining open space at the airport, she said.
Grading began recently for construction of hangars that look like office buildings along the airport's McKellips Road frontage.
The Falcon 7 Development is designed to enhance curb appeal and create a business profile at the airport's front door as it rises in the shadow of a water tower, an emblem of Mesa's grip on its past.
The project also calls for 70 new hangars, including a mix of box hangars and T-hangars. Some will have offices attached to them.
"There's a huge demand, we have about 300 people on our waiting list to get into some type of a storage unit, whether it's a hangar or a covered shade hangar," Nystrom said. "This is just one of those developments that's going to try to start to accommodate that demand."
At the northwestern corner of the airport, four land leases were signed in the past year, and airport officials are finalizing negotiations on a fifth for construction of hangars and a helicopter business, she said.
The airport also is the fulcrum of a business district made up of more than 1,000 acres of industrial-zoned land that city officials refer to as the employment center for north Mesa. The sprawling Boeing Co., campus just northwest of the airport is the largest of a core of industries, including MD Helicopters, Talley Defense Systems, and Special Devices Inc., manufacturers of chemical air bag igniters.
The Longbow Business Park and Golf Club north of the airport attracts golfers daily, but construction of the business park of light-industrial space, office and retail overlooking the 18-hole course is still on hold.
"I think the change is good," said Greg Neal, who works for Arizona Aircraft Interior Designs, one of the airport's more than 50 businesses. "The only hassle was getting to the business when the roads were rebuilt, but I'm satisfied with everything else."
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