The current hangars at the airport
can accommodate only small jets
MONTICELLO – A new corporate hangar at Sullivan County Airport
would, as originally proposed, cost about $1 million, with 90 percent
state funding. That would buy a 10,000 square foot hangar. Increasing
the size to 14,000 square feet, 40 percent larger, would increase the
cost by 100 percent, but that is what was on the agenda for Thursday’s
monthly session of the county legislature.
The disproportionate cost factor can mostly be attributed to the larger door, to accommodate larger corporate jets.
The airport’s fixed base operator, Private Flight, a company based at Morris County Airport in New Jersey, is pushing for the larger facility. Steven Bezios, of Private Flight, told legislators they missed one huge opportunity a year and a half ago, to be a big player among regional airports.
“The major example was the Super Bowl, where Sullivan was to be one of the backup fields to assist in any of the aircraft needing to divert for weather or parking of large corporate jets due to overcrowding at Teterboro, Morristown, Newark and of course, White Plains,” Bezios said. “The loss of business due to now hangar parking, no deicing since there is no heated hangar, loss of fuel sales of course and any maintenance services for the FBO, and the county of course because there’s fees involved in that.”
Bezios also noted that the single runway at Sullivan can accommodate small business class Boeing 737.
Legislature Chairman Scott Samuelson said with the airport, Sullivan has an asset “unlike any other in the region” and by not making it attractive to people with bigger planes,
“I think that with the increased visibility of Sullivan County and this airport, that we may be shooting ourselves in the foot in not taking, at least taking the time to investigate more fully what is the potential of this asset.”
Other legislators who spoke, including Democrats Cora Edwards and Cindy Kurpil Geiger, and Republican Alan Sorensen, did not share that level of optimism.
Sorensen questioned whether the anticipation of a boom in visitation, with the construction of a casino resort, might be a bit overoptimistic.
Geiger questioned the priorities and suggested perhaps a public/private partnership to raise the money for the new hangar.
The legislature voted to table and will schedule full presentation of the proposal in the near future.
