PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Whether it be through building a new hangar, a solar array, or simply upping the fees for the 19,000 planes that take off and land at Pittsfield Municipal Airport, a study commission kicked around a number of ways to generate additional revenue.

 

Three city councilors had petitioned Mayor Linda Tyer to form a study group to delve into the management of the airport to determine if it is worth the city's effort to operate. The group is running a cost analysis and ultimately determining if the airport should be privatized, kept the same, or some mixture of both.

 

Airport Manager Robert Snuck says one of the biggest boosts in revenue would come from a new hangar. A T hangar storing 10 planes could generate an additional $30,000 per year with the owners paying leases of $225 a month.

 

There isn't a location cited or plans for such a construction and the Federal Aviation Agency no longer funds those type of projects. Snuck is waiting for the outcome of a new master plan to help determine if there is a place for such a project.

 

"I've probably got 20 requests for people who want hangars. We have three or four on waiting lists and they are looking around at other airports," Snuck said.

 

He said other airports spent around $900,000 to build a hangar. But about half that cost is being used for utilities, taxiways and other site work that wouldn't necessarily be needed as extensively as at other airports.

 

According to Airport Commission Chairman Christopher Pedersen, there is a trend with plane owners going toward indoor storage. While Pittsfield has outdoor places available, the indoors storage is in demand. 

 

Assistant Airport Manager Brian Spencer said there are about 20 to 25 tie-down spots at the airport but about a dozen of them are unusable and in need of repair. There are about five or six available but unused. 

 

"Most people want to put their airplanes inside the building if it is available," he said.

 

Snuck said there is only space for four planes inside hangars while the rest of the space is being leased out by Lyon Aviation. Pedersen said owners can lease outside tie-down space for $195 a year. Storing even larger planes for corporations out of New York or Boston is another possible opportunity for additional revenue, Snuck said.

 

In total, there are some 1,500 corporate jets flying in and out in a year and some 17,500 small planes. Some revenue is generated from fuel taxes, landing, and parking fees but not for every plane.

 

Michael Lyon, president of Lyon Aviation, which is the airport's fixed-based operator in charge of collecting many of those fees, said about 75 percent of the 1,500 corporate jets that land or take off pay landing fees. And the corporate jets buy the most fuel.

 

He said there is no charge from the small, single-engine general aviation planes that make up the majority of the traffic nor for planes based at the airport. Lyon estimated that 98 percent of the 17,500 other planes to use the airport are single-engines and not responsible for landing fees. Those planes represent more of the "general aviation" users that do it more as a hobby and the low fees are to support that.

 

"The majority of the activity we get is the small aircraft that doesn't pay unless they parked and stayed over night," Spencer said.

 

Pedersen compared it to driving in which some highways charge tolls for truck traffic but not car traffic. Airports are "part of the transportation web" and treated like such by the federal and state government.

 

"If you started charging general aviation a landing fee, we'd lose most of the activity we see here," Snuck added.

 

The twin-engine planes pay $20 for landing fees and the price goes up as the type of the plane does with the largest planes being charged $125. Snuck said many places are moving the fees to be related to weight instead of the type of planes because the more weight, the more damage is caused to the runway. After two hours at the airport, the planes are also charged a flat $50 parking fee.

 

Snuck said some other airports do charge more for the landing fees and parking fees and could possibly be increased. The leases for storing planes is "pretty much in line," he said.

 

Fueling at Pittsfield Municipal Airport also comes with a few extra cents per gallon - essentially a gas tax. Pedersen said the city charges 2 or 3 cents per gallon for planes flying into the city. Lyon Aviation planes do not have to pay that fee. That stems from a deal in the mid-1990s when Lyon used its own funds to purchase and build new fueling infrastructure. 

 

Lyon had been operating the fuel field for the city with the city's equipment. Lyon bought the gas, sold the gas, maintained the system, and then kept the profit. For providing the equipment, the city took a few cents per gallon. When the city's equipment needed to be replaced in 1995, Lyon purchased all of the new equipment in exchange for getting rid of the fuel flowing tax. Later, the tax was implemented again but only for planes coming into the airport.

 

Lyon said the fueling operations is the money maker for fixed-based operators. There are other management structures but for fixed-based operators, the fueling operations is the profit center of it.

 

Snuck said another option would be not to have a fixed-based operator but have a company handling the fueling — and in turn charging a 35 cent per gallon tax.

 

Another future revenue stream could come by using some 30 acres of property for a solar array.

 

"We think we have about 30 acres we could have under solar," Snuck said. "That's a gamechanger for the airport if we get that in."

 

Spencer said there are about 10 acres of that 30 that will never be developed and Snuck said solar agreements could bring in some $200,000 in revenue. City Councilor Christopher Connell, however, says a solar farm would have many hurdles to jump.

 

"It is a good idea but it is going to be several years down the road," he said.

 

Pedersen said many of those changes are just now being looked at. For years, the focus was on the safety improvement project, which just concluded two years ago. During those years, Pedersen said there was a drop in revenue that is now coming back. Now with a master planning effort, the airport officials are plotting their next moves.

 

"We have been very focused on the expansion project. Most of our time and effort has been focused on getting over the hurdles for that safety expansion," he said.

 

Pedersen said the airport runs a "lean" operation with just two employees taking care of more than 600 acres. 

 

At the next meeting, the study group will focus on leases at the Westwood Business Park.