NATIONAL BUSINESS AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE A BIG SUCCESS FOR CRESTVIEW AIRPORT

As you will see below, the Crestview Industrial Airpark has the attention of businesses throughout the world. With Eglin AFB at our doorsteps and our country's emphasises in high tech weapontry and rapid deployment, our region will be on the eyes of the country. You have heard of the silicone valley in California. Be ready to hear about the silcone valley in the Panhandle. The underlining question will be; will investors and developers have access to capital to meet this need.


Bob Sikes Airport attracting corporate interest
Brian Hughes brianh@crestviewbulletin.com
2009-10-30 18:50:49
Northwest Florida Regional Airport may not have lured Southwest Airlines, but Crestview’s Bob Sikes Airport was looking pretty attractive to several business execs attending last week’s National Business Aircraft Association conference in Orlando, said county airports Director Greg Donovan.
Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting of the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s airport committee, Donovan said “several prominent companies are interested in relocating existing operations to Bob Sikes Airport.”
In addition to the $22 million that has been spent in the last three years on airport infrastructure upgrades and improvements, a major attraction is the facility’s effective residential buffer, Donovan said.
“Limiting residential development has been effective,” Donovan said. “That's very important for companies that are interested in investing money for future development.”
Another attraction was a new program being developed by the county commission. Commissioner Wayne Harris described to the committee the new pre-permitting and pre-engineering buildings program that is “in the works,” which will streamline the process to build new commercial development at the airport and in the neighboring Air Park.
One airport tenant, Sunshine Aero president Bob Keller, whose company is constructing a new hangar for its flight-testing businesses, applauded the development.
“We've been working on our permits for a year,” Keller said. “I’ll be glad to see this pre-permitting underway, because it’s a mess right now.”
Okaloosa County Airports snared a prime corner booth for its debut at the NBAA conference. In addition to three county airport staff members, a representative of the regional Economic Development Council attended. Donovan had particular praise for 10 volunteers from the business community who also helped man the booth.
“These people that went stepped up and in a lot of cases, took personal time off to do something very genuine for the community,” Donovan said, noting that most used leave or vacation time to present the airport and its capabilities to the more 30,000 business leaders who attended the highly regarded conference.
“The curious part of this was, it wasn’t just about the people who were walking the hallways and attending the show that we talked to,” Donovan said. “We were actually marketing to our fellow exhibitors.”
For example, one exhibitor at a nearby booth, Donovan said, was dissatisfied with local airport where his company is now based in Ohio, “and he was looking for a place to go,” Donovan. “The dialogue ensued over the course of a week.”
Thanks to the county and city’s representation at NBAA, “Now we have contacts we would not normally have found,” Donovan said.
In other airport business:
• “Fuel sales are breaking records” for the airport’s fixed-base operator, Emerald Coast Aviation, and customer service “is getting rave reviews.”
• The bid for service by Southwest Airlines at Northwest Florida Regional Airport generated lots of national interest in the region, benefiting all area airports. “The competition was enormous,” Donovan said. “We would’ve loved to have them. Another airline is coming and that’s a win for Northwest Florida. This was one chapter of many more to come. There will be many opportunities for air service development.”
• “We’re starting to see a rebound in passengers,” Donovan reported. Other airports are still down “quite a bit more.”
• A recent University of West Florida study shows Okaloosa County airports have more than a $216 million annual impact on the area’s economy.
• As the 7th Special Forces and Joint Strike Fighter programs gear up, “airports will play an important role,” Donovan said.