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Public shows support for Pike airport The Williamson (WV) Daily News

Public_shows_support_for_Pike_airport0_1342583580Staff photo/JULIA R GOAD Business leaders and elected representatives supported the airport Monday night at the East Kentucky Expo Center. L-R Rep. W. Keith Hall, Sen. Ray Jones, Jared Arnett with the East Ky. Chamber of Commerce, Pikeville City Manger Donovan Blackburn, Rep. Leslie Combs, Luke Schmidt and Bill Hickman, Airport Authority Chairman.

Julia Roberts Goad

Staff Writer

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — Members of the community, business leaders and elected representatives met at a forum at the East Kentucky Expo Center to discuss plans for the Pike County Airport.

Those who spoke included Sen. Ray Jones, Reps. Leslie Combs and W. Keith Hall and Bill Hickman, Chairman of the Airport Authority.

Luke Schmidt of L.B. Schmidt and Associates, a consulting company, addressed forum to outline the project. L.B. Schmidt was hired by the City of Pikeville and the Eastern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to study bringing commercial air service to Pike County.

“There have been many twists and turns along the way,” Schmidt said. “But there clearly is a market for scheduled air service here. It would service 13 counties, in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.”

Schmidt said there were two goals needed to provide that service. The first is to recruit a regional airline that is linked to a major airline, and secondly to connect service in Pike County to a major hub such as Charlotte, N.C. or Atlanta.

Schmidt told the Court the best tool for recruiting an airline to Pike County would be a revenue guarantee package.

The concept is that some money is set aside in as the revenue guarantee fund.

An airline doing business in the county would set a financial goal for each month. If the company falls short, money from the revenue guarantee package would be used to bring the amount of money the airline makes up to the monthly goal. The money would be given to the airline on a monthly basis so the company would not incur financial losses during the first two years of operation.

Schmidt said the Airport Authority is in negotiations with two well known airlines, who decline to be named due to confidentiality agreements.

At Monday evening’s forum in Pikeville, those present showed overwhelming support for a regional airport.

Jared Arnett, Vice President of Operations at the East Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said transportation is key to business.

“We started this because our members identified the lack of air service as a barrier to growth or recruiting businesses,” Arnett said. “A hundred years ago, the C&O Railroad came to Pikeville, and we have the Mountain Parkway, which opened us up to external markets in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Tennessee. But now things have changed, we need to appeal to a global economy.”

He said the region is losing business to other markets.

“We have the infrastructure, the industrial parks,” he said. “But we have no commercial air service, and without it, businesses will not come.”

Donovan Blackburn, Pikeville City Manager, said that according to studies done there are enough passengers to support the airport.

“In the counties we would serve in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, there are 333 flying each day,” Blackburn said. “That’s 17 flights a day, the opportunity is here.”

Members of the community spoke at the forum about the difficulties of both personal and business travel.

Joel Thornbury owns a chain of pharmacies in the area and travels frequently for business.

“I spend about $15,000 or $20,000 a year in hotels and fees because I have to go to other airports,” Thornbury said. “That is money lost to our community. How many hotel stays are lost because we don’t have an airport?”

Danny Vanhoose with Appalachian Wireless said other companies’ executives have to drive from other airports, and it is an inconvenience.

“It’s a disconnect,” he said. “It’s like our representatives don’t understand what business needs.”

Rep. W. Keith Hall shared the frustration of doing business without commercial air service.

“I have been working with an Indian company,” Hall said. “We signed a 25-year contract with them, and I had to apologize to them for having to drive from Lexington. It is a deterrent to progress. This is a win-win for Pike County. We need to have vision, without vision, we perish.”

Dr. Samuel King is a Pike County native, a graduate of Belfry High School, Pikeville College and the UK School of Medicine, he has practiced in Pikeville for 29 years.

“The people we have here are visionaries,” he said, speaking to the panel at the forum. “We need to make things better. Apathy is an attitude, not an action. We need to continue to have vision, we need to be pro-active.

Read more: The Williamson Daily News – Public shows support for Pike airport

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Stalled? Pike Fiscal Court balks… (Pikeville) Appalachian News-Express

Article originally posted to the (Pikeville) Appalachian News-Express Web site http://news-expressky.com/

By Chris Anderson
News Editor

A consultant hired to help attract commercial air service to the Pikeville-Pike County Airport said thisweek that the prospects for attracting a commercial carrier to the county may take a nose dive following recent fiscal court inaction.  At a special meeting of the Pike County Fiscal Court on Monday, county officials failed to pass a resolution supporting the efforts of several agencies to attract commercial air service to the Pikeville-Pike County Airport. The court also expressed strong opposition to a request for the county’s support in using $1 million in multi-county coal severancetax money as part ofthe efforts to attract commercial service.

During Monday’s special meeting, Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford told air service consultant Luke Schmidt several times that he and the other fiscal court members support the efforts of the City of Pikeville, the Pikeville-Pike County Airport Board and the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to attract a commercial air carrier to the Pikeville-Pike County Airport.  Although the court members expressed support for having commercial air service at the airport, they failed to make a motion to pass a resolution which would have pledged support for the plan.

According to the proposed resolution, the court, had they approved the resolution, would be in support of commercial air service at the airport and the efforts to secure the service. The proposed resolution, which received no motion for approval from the court members, made no mention of supporting the use of multi-county coal severance funds in the effort, which Schmidt said was vital to the plan’s success.

The lack of an approval of the resolution came after a question by the News- Express last week  regarding the multi-county coal severance funds, which was answered by Rutherford spokesperson Brandon Roberts, who said a resolution would be presented and likely approved by the court. With the court’s lack of support for the plan and unwillingness to sign off on the multi-county coal  severance use, money already secured through a federal grant may be in jeopardy, Schmidt said.

“If we’re not successful in raising this money through the coal severance tax, not only will you not get a carrier, but then we’ll have to return that grant to the federal government. Some other airport would get to use it,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said grant funds secured by the City of Pikeville through a federal aviation grant — whichtotaled $750,000 — were planned to be matched bymulti-county coal severance funds. The plan was outlined in the City of Pikeville’sapplication for the grant funds, Schmidt said.

Schmidt said during the meeting that the Floyd County Fiscal Court had already passed a resolution in support of using the multi-county funds and told the News-Express in a recent interview that another county’s court would likely express support for the same sometime this week. Members of the Pike Fiscal Court, however, said the money could be used better elsewhere and the matching funds for the plan should come from the Pikeville- Pike County Airport Board, which Rutherford said possesses a bank account with a balance of more $6 million.

Dist. 3 Pike Magistrate Leo Murphy said the multicounty coal severance funds should not be considered for the plan. “If we’re going to use it, I’d rather see it come out of that $6 million that’s there already because we have so many things in Pike County that we need right now and we’re going to have a lot more needs in the future for our tax money,” Murphy said, adding that an area of his district — referring to the Ridgeline Road area — has no water service and water is having to be transported to the area. “I think we got a whole lot more needs for severance money than what that’s for.”

According to discussion at the meeting, however, the airport board’s bank account may be off limits. Rutherford said airport board officials received a letter from the federal government stating that the funds must stay in possession of the airport board. Schmidt repeated a similar explanation several times when questioned by the court as to why the airport board’s money was not being considered. Dist. 5 Magistrate Hilman Dotson said he did not understand the money situation in regard to the plan and the airport board’s involvement. He said he also believes the multi-county coal severance money could be used better elsewhere.

“We don’t have any control over the airport board and how they do their affairs or what they used their money for,” he said. “I would much rather see this coal severance money used for  the promotion of tourism in Pike County. We’re talking about jobs, economic development. You know, that would get our jobs going if we have some money to promote our trail system, our tourism and get things going in Pike County.”

Dotson said he is for anything that could be done to get commercial air service in Pike County, but did not understand the reasoning for why the resolution was needed.

Rutherford’s main point of contention, however, seemed to revolve around the timeframe on which the county was approached for support. At the beginning of Schmidt’s address to the court, Rutherford detailed the efforts by the county to establish the airport after plans for an airport at Marions Branch, now a part of the City of Pikeville, fell through. Rutherford said the county paid to have a study performed which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the current airport.

Rutherford stated several times during the meeting  that the City of Pikeville hadnothing to do with the establishment of the airport and now, he is “disappointed” that the county has allegedly been left of the planning and efforts to attract a commercial carrier to the airport. “Along the way, this body got left out,” Rutherford said. “Seems that, for some reason unknown to me, they (the fiscal court)  were never mentioned. We kept reading the paper, and news releases would go out that we were going to have a commercial airline service and that the  city had filed for some $800,000 and then the announcement came out.”

Rutherford took several shots at the City of Pikeville during the meeting, including its annexation of the airport into the city limits, an issue for which Rutherford said Schmidt is not responsible. “You can’t help all these other issues,” he said. “You couldn’t help it when the city, without even coming and talking to us, run a 10-foot corridor up a hollow, took the airport into the city without even coming down here and consulting us. I mean, you know, come on now, we build the airport, we get it up and running, the city comes in and runs a utility corridor, takes it in. Them side issues, you can’t handle.”

Rutherford also referenced the county’s alleged lack of inclusion in the commercial air process process when Schmidt said he was not requesting money from the Pike County government, but was instead requesting only a pledge of support for the use of multicounty severance tax funds.

That statement was not well received by Rutherford, who said multi-county coal severance funds are Pike County dollars and that Pike County pays 32 percent of the state’s coal severance tax dollars. “That’s for economic development and that’s for jobs and that money is for infrastructure and I would agree this comes under that,” Rutherford said. “But this application, we were not asked to be a party to this application, I’m talking about this body (the fiscal court). Nobody talked to us about it. Nobody advised (the fiscal court) about it.

“We … was very surprised when you walked in and then said, ‘Now we want to get $1 million  through you all.’ That is Pike County (money). That’s mined by people in Pike County — coal miners that’s gone under these hills and mined that coal,” Rutherford said.

Later in the meeting, Rutherford blasted Schmidt for requesting money for the project. “I’m disappointed — I’m sure that the rest of the people are, sitting here at this body — that we’ve been left out of the process and then brought back in it when you needed money,” Rutherford said to Schmidt.

Others took issue with the timeframe of county’s involvement, as well. Dist. 1 Pike Magistrate Jeff Anderson, in whose district the Pikeville-Pike County Airport lies, said the county was being brought in on the “butt end” of the plan. Anderson added that he does not believe commercial air service will be successful in Pike County. Anderson also took issue with Schmidt telling the court he could not name the two airlines which have expressed interest in serving the Pikeville-Pike County Airport.
Schmidt said the process of attracting the airlines would be very “transparent” the county supports the use of coal severance funds, but Anderson said transparency is lacking in the plan. “If you’re going to write a check for $1 million, I think we all need to know who the payee is going to be,” Anderson said, adding that Schmidt not being able to name the airlines is not very transparent. “I know your remarks were sincere, but I’m like the judge, we weren’t included initially.”
Anderson said he understands some people know names of carriers, and Schmidt confirmed such. Schmidt said the City of Pikeville, the chamber of commerce and the airport board know who which airlines are interested. “I don’t know why … this court needs to be kept in the dark if we’re going to be asked to vote to commit $1 million of multi-county money,” Anderson said.
Dist. 6 Magistrate Chris Harris also criticized the plan, saying the current proposed plan puts  taxpayers of the hook if the service is not successful. Harris said he met with Schmidt at the request of former Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President Brad Hall. Harris said he is not if favor of the plan. “My opposition to this proposal doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not the city asked us to be a part of the grant application or not. It just has to do with the fact that I just don’t think it’s a very smart use of tax dollars,” Harris said, adding that he would only support the  plan if it called for the airline to be self-supporting.

“If we supplement their income now to get them  going, then in another year or two years, we’re going to be supplementing their  income again. So if it’s a good idea, and the airport board wants to put their money into it then I say that’s what they should do. I can’t say that I support it because I don’t think that it’s a good use of taxpayer dollars.”

Schmidt said model for the plan allows all parties to the plan to have input into the contract in order to get everything they want up front. Schmidt said the revenue guarantee for the plan would only be used if airline reports monthly shortfall on its revenue target. Money would then be used to make up shortfall, he said. “It would not be a blanket subsidy. We’re not in favor of that,” he said. “We want to get this carrier in here; we want to get them to a sustainable position as quickly as possible.”

Appalachian News-Express • Wednesday, June 27, 2012 • Page 11A

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Commercial flights closer to reality in Pike The Williamson (WV) Daily News

Commerical_flights_closer_to_reality_in_Pike0_1340684063

Wayne T. Rutherford

By JULIA ROBERTS GOAD

Staff Writer

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – The Pikeville/Pike County Airport Authority asked the Fiscal Court for its support to secure funds to recruit an airline to service commercial flights to the county.

Luke Schmidt, with L. B. Schmidt and Associates, a consulting firm, outlined the plan to bring commercial air service to the airport, located near Harmon’s Branch.

Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford gave a brief history of the airport.

He said the property was jointly purchased years ago by the City of Pikeville and the Fiscal Court, including the mineral rights to coal on the property. The money from the sale of the coal that was mined as part of construction at the site was was put into an account for development of the airport.

Then, Rutherford said, the “government withdrew from the project. We looked at three locations to put the airport, but the one we have now was determined to be the best one.”

The location the airport is now, near Harmon’s Branch, was purchased by the County, Rutherford said.

“Then the City became part of the Airport Authority again,” Rutherford said. “That airport is there because of the Pike County Fiscal Court.”

He said last year, the Airport Authority asked the Fiscal Court to fund a feasibility study, a request the Fiscal Court denied. Then, Rutherford said, the study was done with money from the Pikeville/Pike County Chamber of Commerce.

“We have worked to bring commercial air service here,” Rutherford said. “Then along the way we, as a body, were left out. We heard about commercial air service in the paper.”

“I have always been for the airport,” Rutherford said. “All of the magistrates have said they were in favor of this service in the county.”

Schmidt addressed the Fiscal Court at their regular meeting. L.B. Schmidt was hired by the City of Pikeville and the Eastern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to study bringing commercial air service to Pike County.

“There have been many twists and turns along the way,” Schmidt said. “But there clearly is a market for scheduled air service here. It would service 13 counties, in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.”

Schmidt said there were two goals needed to provide that service. The first is to recruit a regional airline that is linked to a major airline, and secondly to connect service in Pike County to a major hub such as Charlotte, N.C. or Atlanta.

Schmidt told the Court the best tool for recruiting an airline to Pike County would be a revenue guarantee package.

The concept is that some money is set aside in as the revenue guarantee fund.

An airline doing business in the county would set a financial goal for each month. If the company falls short, money from the revenue guarantee package would be used to bring the amount of money the airline makes up to the monthly goal. The money would be given to the airline on a monthly basis so the company would not incur financial losses during the first two years of operation.

Schmidt said the Airport Authority has already secured a $750,000 from a Small Community Air Service to provide money for that revenue guarantee. He said the Authority, along with the Eastern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the City of Pikeville, is asking the Kentucky Legislature for $1 million in multi-county coal severance tax funds for that guarantee.

Schmidt asked the Pike County Fiscal to agree to support that request.

But the Court had reservations in asking for coal severance tax money for the revenue guarantee package.

“Pike County supplies 32 percent of the coal severance money in Kentucky,” Rutherford said. “This Court was not asked to be included in applying for the $750,000 grant, we have not been included even in news releases about the airport. I am disappointed that we are left and then brought back in when they need money.”

Rutherford said he has asked how much money the Airport Authority has, and found out that amount is $6 million.

District One Magistrate Jeff Anderson asked Schmidt why the Airport Authority was asking for $1 million in coal severance funds if they had $6 million.

Schmidt said there were restrictions on the money the Airport Authority has, although he was not certain what those restrictions were.

“I am not the person to ask,” Schmidt said. He said coal severance money was to be used for economic development, which the airport would be.

Members of the Fiscal Court said they had doubts to the feasibility of a regional airport. Schmidt used an example of a small airport in Manhattan, Kansas, to show how a revenue revenue guarantee package could work to establish air service in a small airport.

But PCFC Deputy Judge Executive John Doug Hayes pointed out that he Manhattan Kansas area has a much larger population, more college students and a more stable tax base.

“They don’t rely on coal,” Hayes said.

Magistrates on the Court said they felt there were more pressing matters coal severance funds could be used for. DIstrict Three Magistrate Leo Murphy said the county’s citizens have more basic needs than air service.

“I want air service too, but let them use their $6 million,” Murphy said. “We have needs in the county, There are people in my district without drinking water, we have to truck water to them. There are more needs for coal severance money.”

Another concern of the Court was that although Schmidt said there were two major airlines who are interested in providing service in Pike County, neither of those companies wanted their identities to be disclosed.

“I have great reservations,” District One Magistrate Jeff Anderson told Schmidt. “It is not transparent.” He said that the City and the Airport Authority know who those companies are, but that the Court did not. Schmidt explained that the City of Pikeville and the Airport Authority were his clients, and as such he could not disclose any confidential information that might hinder the project.

“It is a competitive issue,” he said. “If carriers see their name in the paper, it will blow our chance out of the water.”

But the PCFC was not convinced that an airport was a worthy project in such financially challenging times.

“My objection is that it isn’t a smart use of our tax dollars,” District Six Magistrate Chris Harris said. “If we supplement their income now, where will be in two years? If a was self-supporting, then an airline would want to come in.”

“The Airport board should come and talk to us,” District Two Magistrate “Chick” Johnson said. “They act like they are hiding something. We have never seen letters, or anything about this. They need to come to us; coal severance money is all we’ve got.”

In the end, Rutherford put a motion on the floor to support the request for $1 million in coal severance funds for the revenue guarantee, but none of the Magistrates seconded the motion, and it died without a vote. It will be carried over to the next Fiscal Court meeting.

Read more: The Williamson Daily News – Commercial flights closer to reality in Pike

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Airport could add commercial service WYMT-TV (Hazard)

 

The Pikeville-Pike County Regional Airport could soon be adding commercial airline service.

Officials say they are talking with two major airlines that could provide daily service at the airport.

The flights would serve as connecting flights to larger airport hubs in cities like Charlotte and Atlanta.

The airport would serve a 13 county area in the tri-state region.

Those included would consist of nine counties in Kentucky, three in Virginia, and one in West Virginia.

“You would get on the plane in Pikeville, make a relatively short flight to a major connecting hub, and then you get there and you can connect and go to virtually any place that you want to go,” Luke Schmidt said.

Officials hope to have something in place by the end of this year.

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Consultant: Pikeville could host regional airline Lexington Herald-Leader

Article originally posted to the Lexington Herald-Leader Web site http://www.kentucky.com/2012/05/26/2201975/consultant-pikeville-could-host.html#storylink=misearch
The Associated Press
Talks are ongoing with two regional airlines to provide daily service in and out of Pikeville-Pike County Regional Airport and flights could start in 2013, the Pikeville city manager and an aviation consultant said.
The consultant, Luke Schmidt, said the airlines could connect with commercial hubs in Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit.
Schmidt said a key milestone in the long-term effort to get commercial air service for Eastern Kentucky was the awarding of a federal $750,000 small community air service development grant to the Pikeville Airport last year. The grant is being administered by the U. S. Department of Transportation.
“This is a competitive grant,” Schmidt said. “Pikeville competed with 68 other airports, and Pikeville was the smallest of the 68.”
City Manager Donavan Blackburn told The Appalachian News-Express ( http://bit.ly/Js2XmU) that $100,000 of the grant will be used for marketing with the rest subsidizing an airline that provides service.
Blackburn said the airline is expected to operate at a loss for at least two years.
The 5,300-foot runway at Pikeville Airport can handle a turbo prop aircraft capable of carrying 19 to 37 passengers with a crew of three, Schmidt said. He said the region to be served would include 13 counties, of which nine are in eastern Kentucky, three are in southwest Virginia and one is in West Virginia.
This region is currently served by four commercial airports: Lexington, Huntington-Ashland, Charleston and Tri-Cities. Each of the 13 counties is closer to Pikeville Airport than to any of those airports, Schmidt said.
Schmidt said work is currently being done to complete a letter of commitment, which he anticipates would be submitted sometime this fall, with commercial air service becoming available in and out of Pikeville Airport nine to 12 months thereafter.
Blackburn said the airport does not have a fire station. The requirement for fire protection would be met by having a Pikeville City fire truck and crew of firefighters arrive at the airport one-half hour before a scheduled aircraft arrival and remain until one-half hour after the plane’s departure.
Schmidt and Blackburn said some modification might be required to the general aviation terminal that now serves the airport. They said that space might have to be provided for screening passengers before boarding.
Schmidt said the 13-county region that would be served by commercial air service in and out of Pikeville Airport has a population of 445,000, is a major energy region and has a total of $5 billion in bank deposits.

 

 

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Survey may attract commercial passenger service (Somerset) Commonwealth Journal

Article originally posted to (Somerset) Commonwealth Journal Web site

By KEN SHMIDHEISER, Managing Editor and CHRIS HARRIS, Staff Writer Commonwealth Journal

Somerset —

Has the time come for the Lake Cumberland region to become a hub in the nation’s air travel network? Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation hopes to answer that question now that commercial airline carriers are again expressing interest in locating passenger airline service in Somerset.
Yesterday, Martin Shearer, executive director of Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation, and Luke Schmidt, president of L.B. Schmidt & Associates, announced the launch of a regional survey of air travelers. The purpose of the survey will be to confirm both existing and future air travel patterns, and the demand for passenger airline service in the Somerset region.
During the past two years, community leaders have been quietly working to develop new airline service at the Lake Cumberland Regional Airport (also known by its three letter identification code, SME). This effort has included updating the market profile, establishing a target list of potential providers of commercial air service and recruiting the providers to Lake Cumberland Regional.
The survey is targeted towards 137,000 Facebook users across southcentral Kentucky. In addition to Pulaski County, input is being sought from residents of in Bell, Casey, Clay, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Leslie, Lincoln, McCreary, Owsley, Rockcastle, Russell, Wayne and Whitley counties. The survey can be accessed by visiting:
This month two years ago as the economy continued to sour, Locair, a Florida-based airline carrier terminated passenger service at the airport here following the expiration of a million-dollar federal grant that made the flights possible.
“Business and industry leaders throughout the region have asked repeatedly when air service will be restored to SME,” Shearer noted.
Today, with the stock market at its highest levels in years, and the number of people seeking unemployment near a four-year low, Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation feels the time has come to respond.
The airport’s attractive $1 million terminal is now staffed and being used by the private aviation community as attested by a jet parked on the tarmac outside the Kit Cowan Road terminal yesterday.
“The Foundation recognizes the important role that airline service can play in not only providing a valuable service for our residents, but also in helping to attract new jobs to the region,” Shearer said.
As part of its efforts to restore air service at Lake Cumberland Regional, the Foundation retained Louisville-based consulting firm L.B. Schmidt & Associates, LLC to assist in the effort. The consulting firm updated the market profile, which recognizes that the airport will serve 15 Kentucky counties with a combined population of 384,000 people. The firm has also identified several potential providers of air service and has met with each of these companies to introduce the Somerset market. The focus now turns to a regional survey of air travelers to fully understand where people from this region travel to and how often.
“Today, we are announcing the launch of our survey which is open to any and all business and industry representatives, professionals and individuals who travel by air for any reason—business or personal,” said Luke B. Schmidt, consultant to the Foundation. “We have designed a short, easy to complete survey which will help us to understand just where people from this region fly to and how often they fly. And, in order to help drive participation, we are using social media, specifically Facebook, in an effort to reach the largest number of potential users of SME airport.”
“The survey will help us to better understand the market and the demand for airline service in this region,” said Schmidt. “More importantly, a robust level of participation in the survey will help to match this market to the right provider.” The survey period will continue through February 24, 2012.
Somerset-Pulaski County Development Foundation serves as the economic development arm for the Somerset and Pulaski County, Kentucky region. The Foundation facilitates the development of new jobs by recruiting world-class firms to the community and also assists existing business and industry through the expansion of existing facilities.

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Schmidt: Commuter airline deal could be finalized by year’s end (Elizabethtown) News-Enterprise

By Marty Finley
Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 3:00 am (Updated: October 26, 1:59 pm)
The airportwas abuzz Monday as crews worked feverishly to finish roughly $5 million worth of infrastructure upgrades to the airport by next month.

In addition to a deeper overlay on the 6,000-foot-long runway, the Elizabethtown Regional Airport at Addington Field is making improvements to its lighting system and its weather service program, said Joe Yates, chairman of the Elizabethtown Airport Board.

Elizabethtown City Council got an intimate look at the changes at the airport during its work session, in which the board and its consultant, Luke Schmidt, updated city officials on an aggressive plan to attract a major airline by the end of the year.

Since revealing its pursuit of a commuter airline service with a connection to a major hub, the airport has rebranded itself and launched millions in upgrades to meet state and federal aviation guidelines, Schmidt said. The airport also is in the process of moving its certification from a general aviation airport to a commercial airport, Yates added.

Schmidt said the airport started dialogs with seven major airlines, but airline mergers, bankruptcies, the economy and rising fuel costs stalled talks in many cases.

One major airline is showing increased interest in expanding to Elizabethtown, though, and hopes are a deal will be finalized by the end of 2011 if not sooner, Schmidt said. The airline could not be revealed for confidentiality purposes.

If a deal is struck, Yates said the airport would approach the Kentucky Department of Aviation and the governor’s office for a state grant to build a passenger terminal, which is expected to cost $3.5 to $4 million and is required to be in place before the airline service can launch. The board wants to launch the service within the next year.

Yates said the airport also will have to provide money upfront for the airline, either by raising $2 million through a travel bank or offering a $2 million guarantee.

Schmidt and Yates said the travel bank is preferred and could be obtained by approaching local businesses to purchase subscriptions to the service. Schmidt said the minimum subscription would be $1,000 and would increase for businesses that travel frequently. As an incentive to subscribe to the service, businesses would have subscription fees reimbursed in full if they utilize the service. Flight costs would be reimbursed upon proof of travel until the amount of the subscription is fully repaid, he added.

“It’s not a donation,” Schmidt said.

The travel bank creates built-in business for the service because most businesses will want to get their money back if they purchase a subscription, he added.

Schmidt said the airline appears to prefer the travel bank method, too, but the guarantee would be needed if the airline rejects the concept. Schmidt said a guaranteed amount was raised for an airline service in Manhattan, Kan., to shore up shortfalls in its first few months of service, when it started turning a profit. The airline has since added several flights to Dallas Fort Worth and Chicago. Schmidt said the work in Kansas to promote the airport, which is located near Fort Riley, is an indicator smaller military markets can be successful.

And the local airport can be even more successful because Fort Knox is larger and the air service market in Elizabethtown dwarfs the market in Manhattan, Schmidt added.

The service would be geared toward military and business flights, Schmidt said, and he projected Fort Knox would have more than 100,000 air trips for trainees in 2012. Flying out of Elizabethtown would be easier and more affordable for the post, he added.

“We’re real confident” it will be successful, Schmidt said.

Marty Finley can be reached at (270) 505-1762 or mfinley@thenewsenterprise.com.

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Rogers Visits Visionary Groups in Eastern Kentucky (Press Release)

 

Press release originally posted to Congressman Hal Rogers’ Web site directed to:

Washington, DC, Oct 21 – U.S. Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05) visited with two visionary groups in eastern Kentucky on Wednesday, October 19th. During a monthly meeting in Whitesburg, the Letcher County Planning Commission updated Congressman Rogers on progress and plans for economic development and tourism in Letcher County.

“The Letcher County Planning Commission is on the right track,” said Rogers. “You can change your outlook and make great things happen in your community by getting involved. I commend you for being proactive and planning your work and working your plan.”

Congressman Rogers later joined the newly formed Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, made up of eight counties, including Floyd, Johnson, Knott, Lawrence, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, and Pike Counties. Together, they announced the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded a Small Community Air Service Development grant to implement a scheduled passenger airline service at the Pikeville-Pike County Regional Airport.  The $750,000 Federal Aviation Administration grant will provide a revenue guarantee for a commercial airline service to be established in eastern Kentucky.

“This grant is a big step toward opening greater doors of opportunity for eastern Kentucky,” said Rogers. “This project has been in the works for more than two years and I am pleased that the Department of Transportation recognized the hard work and commitment from area leaders to bring this much needed air service to the region. A scheduled passenger airline service will benefit economic development, tourism and much more.”

The Small Community Air Service Development Program offers highly competitive grants to small communities across the country where air fares are higher than average and improved service will provide benefits to businesses, educational institutions and other enterprises. The City of Pikeville was one of only 29 communities selected across 22 states to receive this grant. Only three of the awards will assist communities in acquiring scheduled airline service. City and airport leaders are working with L.B. Schmidt and Associates, LLC to continue discussions with a commercial carrier.

“This is not a Pikeville project. It is an eastern Kentucky project,” said Tracy Syck, Chairperson of the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce that represents eight counties. “Businesses in cities along U.S. 23 and highway 80 will all have a local commercial airport to call their own. We are working diligently to secure an air carrier that will be as committed to our region as we are.”

“We are leaps ahead of where we were last year and everybody is really excited,” said Donovan Blackburn, Pikeville City Manager. “I believe you’re going to see commercial air service at the Pikeville-Pike County Regional Airport very soon. We will be making some improvements at the airport and working with TSA for security at the terminal to prepare for our new air service.”

The Pikeville-Pike County Regional Airport is approximately 6 miles northwest of Pikeville, Kentucky.  More than 20 aircraft are based on its field, including single- and multi-engine airplanes.

Grants are awarded through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.  The FAA is responsible for the safety of civil aviation.

Rogers has served Kentucky’s 5th Congressional District since 1981. With a focus on economic development, job creation, fighting illegal drugs and preserving Appalachia’s natural treasures, he has a reputation for listening to his constituents and fighting for the region he represents.  For more information visit www.halrogers.house.gov.

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Congressman Hal Rogers makes announcement of federal aviation grant WYMT-TV (Hazard)

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Congressman Hal Rogers (R) of Kentucky told those gathered at a reception at University of Pikeville’s Booth Auditorium that a $750,000 federal aviation grant has been approved for take off.

The formal announcement made by the congressman follows efforts made by him along with a partnership between the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and Pikeville, Pike County Regional Airport and the City of Pikeville.

“We worked with them on getting a small airports grant out of Washington which has been successful and we have tried to help them to locate a carrier that would want to fly in and out of here and to work with the T.S.A. – Traffic Security Administration,” said Rogers.

Officials said it will help the region’s economy.

“For business administrative folks who are considering building a location here or expanding to this part of the world, it will make it much easier for them to get here. for the current business community throughout the region it will make it much easier when they have to go someplace to visit a customer, visit a corporateoffice or a home office,” said Luke Schmidt, a consultant brought in who has recently worked with an airport in Elizabethtown.

“Years in the past we have had to leave to go to places like Lexington and Huntington and Charleston,” said Pikeville City Manager Donovan Blackburn.

“Now what we are seeing is the trend in reverse, people are now coming here to the events at the east Kentucky expo center, the hospital.”

The reality is that we are going to have the opportunity to attract businessesthat we would have never attracted before>

The congressman said it will also help anyone just wanting to take a trip.

“It will be a huge convenience for people that live in this immediate area,” said Rogers.