The city’s state of the art general aviation facility, which opened Jan. 25, 2013, is supporting itself financially.
This is about three years ahead of schedule, according to the business plan approved by the Cleveland Municipal Airport Authority.
Jetport Manager Mark Fidler said the airport is doing better than expected.
“I really didn’t think we were going to make any significant amount of money for the first five years we were open,” Fidler said. “We’re doing better than we anticipated we would.”
Some of the reasons for success are the amenities offered pilots and passengers, geographic location, low fuel prices, prompt and courteous service, and the general aviation community.
Cleveland City Councilman Avery Johnson recently congratulated Fidler after he presented the governing body a financial report.
“It looks real good because the bottom line shows they have over $71,000 of profit. It shows they are operating in the black,” Johnson said. “There were a lot of people involved in the whole process. It’s a job well done.”
The landscape at Cleveland Regional Jetport continues to change as new hangars rise up north and south of the terminal building.
The airport has 20 T-hangars that are occupied and 20 more under construction, nine hangars standing or under development and three more parcels are under lease awaiting construction.
“We have reservations on all of those under construction before they are even built and we’ve got other private hangars in various stages of development,” Fidler said.
Southeast Jets and Life Force Air Medical Service are two of the private hangars under development.
Southeast Jet is the corporate arm of a real estate company with holdings primarily in Florida.
Life Force Air Medical Service is operating from temporary quarters until December when its building will be finished. The new structure will include crew quarters and a 50-by-70 foot hangar with enough space for maintenance.
Fidler said crews will be stationed at the airport 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He said Life Force is important to the jetport because the air medical service will be leasing ground and buying fuel.
Erlanger is breaking ground on its facility Monday at 1 p.m. The next day, Tuesday, “Ageless Aviation Dreams” returns with its vintage Boeing Steerman to fly senior citizens in recognition of their roles supporting our nation.
http://clevelandbanner.com/stories/cleveland-jetport-is-financially-self-sufficient,19696