Salem airport's strategy: land leases, safety projects

At the Salem Municipal Airport's passenger terminal, automatic doors pop open, ready for travelers toting bags.

Inside the building: rows of empty chairs and silence.

It's a stark contrast from 2007 and 2008. During that period, Delta Air Lines connection carrier SkyWest Airlines had offered twice daily flights between Salem and Salt Lake City. Travelers could catch connecting flights in Salt Lake.

Blaming high fuel prices and a weak economy, Delta canceled the service after about 15 months. SeaPort Airlines, a commuter air service, in 2011 had operations in Salem, but halted the flights after about three months.

City officials doubt that another commercial airline will begin serving Salem anytime soon, and they've rolled out a Plan B. Leasing about 80-acres of developable land to aviation-related businesses, and corporate aviation, have become the thrust of the airport's strategy.

"The issue is we're not going to put all of our eggs in commercial aviation," said John Wales, the city's urban development director, whose responsibilities include the airport.

The city-run airport covers about 750 acres and has two runways. The city is working with the Strategic Economic Development Corporation, better known as SEDCOR, to attract companies interested in having ready access to the airport.

Developable property at the airport is leased, never sold. Land leases to business, as well as leases on hangars, bring in about $1 million a year. Leases are the largest source of revenue for the airport's operations, Wales said.

The city hopes to replicate the success it has had with Garmin AT.

Garmin came to Salem in 2003 when it bought UPS Aviation Technologies, a maker of aircraft navigation systems. The company has since expanded several times on airport property along Turner Road SE, within sight of the airport's runways.

Garmin designs, certifies and manufactures navigation and communications equipment for general aviation customers. It's constantly using the airport to test products and has several company aircraft in Salem. Garmin's latest expansion, a $14 million project, will bring at least 65 new engineering and software jobs to a city without a large presence in high tech.

But if the airport is going to continue to be "an economic engine," as Wales calls it, airport maintenance problems will have to be addressed. And paying for repairs and upgrades is expensive.

"Like most general aviation airports, money is tight," Wales said

Day-to-day operations of the airport are paid for with revenues generated at the airport, such as land leases and fuel fees. Dollars from the Federal Aviation Administration pay for the majority of big, capital projects. The city, however, still must come up with a 10 percent local match through grants or savings.

Safety concerns have risen to the top of the to-do list, Wales said.

About a year and half ago, airfield lights began to fail. Conduits for airfield lighting, wiring, lighting fixtures along runways and transformers are now being replaced at a cost of about $3.3 million.

Next summer, the airport expects to begin a rehabilitation project for Taxiway C. It's about a $2 million to $2.5 million project.

The city hasn't determined if it will attempt to move forward with a proposed $13 million project to lengthen the airport's primary runway to 7,000 feet. A longer runway would allow the airport to better accommodate larger corporate jets.

Airport Administrator John Paskell said 7,000 feet is kind of a "magic number" because it increases the types of aircraft that can efficiently use the Salem airport. It also makes Salem more attractive to airlines, such as Frontier Airlines or Allegiant Air, that operate smaller "airbuses, he said.

Paskell noted that the airline industry, hard hit by the last recession, is still contracting. Because Salem is a smaller community, it would be considered an "at-risk" market for an airline, he said

"This airport has some of the same type of growing pains, I think, I sometimes feel in the community," Paskell said.

The 50-seat plane that SkyWest Airlines used to pick up passengers in Salem during 2007 and 2008 isn't currently being manufactured, Paskell said. And most airlines are flushing those smaller planes out of their fleets as quickly as possible, he said, in favor of larger aircraft that are cheaper to operate.

Wildlife at the airport

As part of the work to upgrade the airfield's lighting and electrical systems, the city was required to do a biological assessment of the property.

The assessment included a field survey and mitigation plan for the streaked horned lark, listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

There are about 900 to 1,300 breeding streaked horned larks in the Willamette Valley, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The birds nest on the ground and they prefer wide, open grassy areas.

One of the largest populations of streaked horned larks in the Willamette Valley breed at the Corvallis Municipal Airport.

Source: City of Salem, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service