Airport administrators hoping to fly future Chobani business
NORWICH – Location, location, location – that’s the ticket Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, is attempting to sell to Chobani executives to entice them to use the Lt. Warren E. Eaton airport in North Norwich.
The Chenango County airport is located just yards from Chobani’s headquarters at Woods Corners in Norwich and less than 20 miles from the Greek yogurt manufacturer’s plant in Columbus. Some private jets carrying Chobani executives and business associates have already landed, purchased fuel and taken off. But Wilcox and members of the Planning & Economic Development Committee would like more consistent traffic, if not ideally, an agreement for Chobani to become the Eaton airport’s next fixed base operator.
Wilcox said he recently began talking to Chobani executives. “I’ve been there a couple of times, but there are no guarantees,” he said.
Gamma Aviation was P&G Pharmaceuticals and the airport’s fixed base operator for more than a decade before finally pulling out in 2009. Airport Administrator Donald MacIntosh said Chenango County added $400,000 to the airport’s operating account during Gamma’s tenure, something that county lawmakers have struggled to make up for with t-hangar rentals, fuel sales and advertising. Maintenance, improvements and regulatory fees are funded via an interest generating account on the airport’s estimated $500,000 trust fund.
Chobani has been using a charter service that flies into Griffiss International Airport in Oneida County because, according to MacIntosh, the Chenango County airport’s GPS coordinates for low visibility and inclement weather landings aren’t up to date. MacIntosh explained that the runway’s landing threshold was moved north, changing the approach coordinates, and the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t conducted flyovers to adjust the numbers yet.
The shorter threshold makes for a longer total landing distance, but charter aircraft companies have more stringent requirements than private planes and require an even longer runway.
In addition, the FAA has found that additional trees in the nearby cemetery penetrate the runway approach’s mandated safety zone, and must be removed. Some trees were cleared from the same area several years ago. The county’s consulting engineering firm for the airport, C&S Engineers of Syracuse, is in the midst of identifying the offending trees and contacting landowners.
Wilcox’s sales effort comes at a time with the Airport Steering Committee is entertaining a new consultant for airport improvement projects and also while the county is considering new south parallel taxiway lighting and an alternative rotating beacon design. Supervisor Patrick McNeil, D-City of Norwich, led a charge last week at the county board’s monthly meeting opposing any grants for the estimated $50,000 engineering work until a new consultant is selected. Three companies will make presentations to both county committees on Oct. 25 at the County Office Building in Norwich: C&S Engineers, Clough Harbour & Associates of Albany and McFarland Johnson of Binghamton.
“We need to see what we really need to do with the airport,” McNeil warned, adding that he didn’t want to see the airport trust fund “whittle itself down” with costly and ongoing improvements.
The Chenango County airport is located just yards from Chobani’s headquarters at Woods Corners in Norwich and less than 20 miles from the Greek yogurt manufacturer’s plant in Columbus. Some private jets carrying Chobani executives and business associates have already landed, purchased fuel and taken off. But Wilcox and members of the Planning & Economic Development Committee would like more consistent traffic, if not ideally, an agreement for Chobani to become the Eaton airport’s next fixed base operator.
Wilcox said he recently began talking to Chobani executives. “I’ve been there a couple of times, but there are no guarantees,” he said.
Gamma Aviation was P&G Pharmaceuticals and the airport’s fixed base operator for more than a decade before finally pulling out in 2009. Airport Administrator Donald MacIntosh said Chenango County added $400,000 to the airport’s operating account during Gamma’s tenure, something that county lawmakers have struggled to make up for with t-hangar rentals, fuel sales and advertising. Maintenance, improvements and regulatory fees are funded via an interest generating account on the airport’s estimated $500,000 trust fund.
Chobani has been using a charter service that flies into Griffiss International Airport in Oneida County because, according to MacIntosh, the Chenango County airport’s GPS coordinates for low visibility and inclement weather landings aren’t up to date. MacIntosh explained that the runway’s landing threshold was moved north, changing the approach coordinates, and the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t conducted flyovers to adjust the numbers yet.
The shorter threshold makes for a longer total landing distance, but charter aircraft companies have more stringent requirements than private planes and require an even longer runway.
In addition, the FAA has found that additional trees in the nearby cemetery penetrate the runway approach’s mandated safety zone, and must be removed. Some trees were cleared from the same area several years ago. The county’s consulting engineering firm for the airport, C&S Engineers of Syracuse, is in the midst of identifying the offending trees and contacting landowners.
Wilcox’s sales effort comes at a time with the Airport Steering Committee is entertaining a new consultant for airport improvement projects and also while the county is considering new south parallel taxiway lighting and an alternative rotating beacon design. Supervisor Patrick McNeil, D-City of Norwich, led a charge last week at the county board’s monthly meeting opposing any grants for the estimated $50,000 engineering work until a new consultant is selected. Three companies will make presentations to both county committees on Oct. 25 at the County Office Building in Norwich: C&S Engineers, Clough Harbour & Associates of Albany and McFarland Johnson of Binghamton.
“We need to see what we really need to do with the airport,” McNeil warned, adding that he didn’t want to see the airport trust fund “whittle itself down” with costly and ongoing improvements.
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