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ST. LOUIS REGIONAL AIRPORT
NO WHERE TO GO, BUT UP!
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By Linda F. Jarrett
Nestled amidst the farm fields of Southwestern Illinois just 25 minutes from downtown
St. Louis lies St. Louis Regional Airport, the fourth largest airport in Illinois and one of the four largest in this area.
Regional, a general aviation reliever airport fills a niche servicing and maintaining thousands of aircraft each year, and providing quality pilot training.
Averaging over 90,000 operations a year, the airport serves a diverse clientele from Fortune 500 companies and general aviators to the U.S. military and regional aircraft makers, all of whom find the right combination of accessibility and on-site services.
In addition, St. Louis Regional Airport enterprises lie at the doorstep of the vital, historic and fast-growing River Bend/Madison County communities of Southwestern Illinois. These communities boast more than $1 billion in public and private investments and offer an available and productive labor force.
The St. Louis Regional Airport Business Park contributes an economic impact of $74 million annually. Approximately 500 people work at the 30-plus businesses operating in the business park, with a combined annual payroll of $10 million. Of the 600 airport business park acres, 150 are utility-ready and available for lease. Lots range in size from less than one acre to more than eight acres.
Manager Miller
Manager Dave Miller has overseen operations at Regional for over two years. Heading up this operation is a new experience for
him. After 21 years in the Air Force, he
managed commercial airports in such cities as Montrose, Colo., Juneau, Alaska, Ketchikan, Alaska and Flint, Mich. before coming to Regional.
 Dave Miller, manager
St. Louis Regional Airport |
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“This is the first airport I’ve managed that does not have commercial air service,” Miller says. “Some of my colleagues have asked me if this was a step down. I said, ‘No.’ We’re economically vibrant here.
“Having air carriers and airlines at your
airport is like having an apartment building where tenants can’t pay the rent,” he says. “Airlines are in dire straits and I wish
them well, but it’s refreshing to be at an
airport like this.”
Plus, an airport like Regional does not have the problems of a commercial facility, such as noise abatement programs and security.
“We are concerned about security on the periphery of the airport,” Miller says. “But since we don’t have passengers, we don’t have screening points.”
Regional serves many purposes, the least of which is providing an alternate landing pattern for Scott Air Force Base traffic.
“We can get four traffic patterns here, where Scott can only get three,” Miller says.
He explains that Scott, St. Louis Downtown Airport, Lambert International and Spirit of
St. Louis Airport are all lined up against
prevailing winds. “So anytime you have
something in the traffic pattern in one, it affects the traffic in all the others. This
airport is perpendicular to the line made up
by the other airports, and we’re just
far enough away that we’re outside that
magic circle.”
He says when President George W. Bush flew into St. Louis, the other airports were closed, except for Regional. “We’re far enough out of the circle that we could still have traffic coming in.
Regional’s Beginnings
A boom in air traffic and airports began after World War II, for both businesses and recreational flyers. In 1946, Regional began operations as Civic Memorial honoring American war veterans. Walston Aviation became the airport’s first FBO (fixed base operator) and, by becoming the largest Cessna dealer in the world, increased the airport’s visibility.
In 1979, a 150-acre airport business park opened, offering businesses the opportunity to reside in a newly developing opportunity-filled area. In order to increase visibility and expand its identifying power with companies and aviators, the airport changed its name to St. Louis Regional Airport in 1984.
In the past two years, Regional has completed two projects totaling $2.7 million. Last year, an apron (a large parking lot for aircraft) and a taxi way for $1.3 million, and this year, a continuation of the apron for $1.4 million.
“We want to be able to park the large airplanes,” Miller says. “And one of the aprons wasn’t strong enough, so we redid the base and put on a new top.”
Through ongoing expansion, development and improvements, what began as a small sod runway and storage facility in 1946, has grown to its current 2,300 acres and a value in excess of $60 million.
Airport Differences
Heading up Regional presents its own
set of challenges, mostly economic,
Miller says.
“The economic side of the development equation is a lot different from a commercial service airport,” he says. “We’re trying to generate aeronautical and non-aeronautical business, where at a commercial airport, they’re more interested in wooing other airlines. So, our marketing campaigns are a little broader than theirs.”
Miller enjoys bragging on his tenants. “We have a good balance of aeronautical and non-aeronautical businesses.”
Premier Air Center and Langa Air Inc. are two of the FBO’s that Miller touts.
“Premier is a full service FBO,” Miller says. “Their niche is repairing, fueling and servicing corporate aircraft, and their business has increased in the past five years due to the shift in air travel.
“The golden age of jet travel is gone,” he says. “Many of the legendary carriers are becoming fossils, and even though ridership is returning, profitability is not.”
Out of this has grown the phenomenon of “fractional ownership,” Miller says. “Some corporations, maybe three, four or five, will go together and own a couple of corporate aircraft. They’ll hire a staff of pilots and mechanics to run the aircraft. It’s like calling for a taxi, and you fly point-to-point instead of hub-to-hub.”
Langa Air also services aircraft, but it also has a flight academy with 164 students enrolled. Some come every other month for instruction, while others come and stay for a year or more to get their commercial license.
“This is where the economic trickle comes in,” Miller says. “These guys need places to live, they go out to eat, go to movies. Scott Langa finds housing and we are discussing building dorms or barracks at the airport.”
The company has also qualified through the Department of Defense to train U.S. Air Force pilots for their private pilot’s license.
“The Air Force decided two years ago that the first assignment for anyone going into pilot training is to go to a civilian airport and get a private pilot’s license,” Miller says. Scott Langa has run about 45 Air Force officers through this program before they go on to Air Force Pilot Training.”
Miller pointed out that Regional can accommodate any airplane that has been built, including the 747s. “The 747 can land with no problem, but depending on their destination, if they’re going nonstop to Brisbane, they have to put on so much fuel that they increase their weight. This means they need more runway. But they can go to London, Paris, or Tokyo. And we have every day corporate airplanes like the Gulf Stream Five that take off for international destinations.”
The airport also enjoyed a bit of star power two years ago when lllinois’ Junior Senator, Barak Obama, announced his candidacy from Regional’s administrative office.
“He used my office to make phone calls,” Miller chuckles.
Indeed, Regional plays an important part in the area’s economic viability and has no where to go, but up! |
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