Sullivan County Airport envisions business taking off
“In the last five years we will have essentially rebuilt the entire airport,” James Arnott, superintendent of the Sullivan County Airport told the Business Journals. “If you go back to 2016, we started with FAA grants to replace the lights, the signs, the electrical vault. We did (repaved) the runway two years ago. Last year we did the taxiway. This year, in October, we”™re doing the apron to the terminal and now we”™re going to have the opportunity to have a really freshened-up terminal and along with that we”™ve got a brand new vision for what Sullivan County Airport is.”
It was recently announced that the airport would be receiving an $18.5 million grant from New York state to significantly renovate and expand the terminal building. The funding was part of a $230 million package of awards made to nine airports through the state”™s Upstate Airport Economic Development and Revitalization Competition. In July, the FAA announced a grant of $654,144 to rehabilitate the apron area used by aircraft.
The project for the terminal building includes creating additional space for passengers, a new lounge for pilots and expanding windows for better views of the surrounding Catskill Mountains environment. The heating and air conditioning will upgraded and building insulation improved. Solar panels will be added to provide a sustainable source of electricity for the building. Electric vehicle charging stations will be installed in the parking area.
“When it was originally decided to have the airport, they thought the common carriers, the airlines, would bring people back to the Catskills”™ hotels,” Arnott said. “Well, it didn”™t work out that way. For a number of years we languished. We were struggling to find an identity.”
When the airport was opened in July of 1969, there was optimism that the DC-9 and Boeing 727 jets of that day would soon by landing on Sullivan’s 6,298-feet-long by 150-feet-wide runway in droves. Mohawk Airlines ran service to Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo, Elmira, and New York City with connections to Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Washington. The Concord Resort and Grossinger”™s joined forces in a plan to fly in guests for all-inclusive weekend and vacation packages. Ransome Airlines also operated at Sullivan for a time. However, passenger activity never reached the levels necessary for any of the operators to sustain service.
“As we look at it today, we”™re redefining the airport as an executive jetport,” Arnott said. “Teterboro, Morristown, Westchester airports, all the places where corporate and private jets have been hangared, are full. Because of what”™s happened to the common carrier industry, it”™s relatively unfriendly toward the business traveler, or the private individual of means. They can”™t guarantee arrival or departure times. Thousands of flights are being cancelled all over the place. The growth rate for private and corporate jets, I think, has been tagged at 15% per annum for the next five years.”
Sullivan County Legislature Chairman Robert A. Doherty said of the state grant, “This is another step in this administration”™s commitment to making the airport attractive and a viable asset for the future growth of the county.”
Sullivan County Manager Joshua Potosek said, “We are redefining what this airport is and can be, and this funding will play a key role in that effort.”
Legislator Joe Perrello, who was chairman of the Public Works Committee when the county applied for the state funding last year, said, “The airport is an incredible resource for Sullivan County, and aviation businesses, pilots and the public are taking notice of the investments we”™re making.”
Arnott said that two air taxi/charter operators licensed under Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Administration”™s regulations have shown interest in starting service at Sullivan. He said that Hatzolah Air, an international air ambulance service, has agreed to move into Sullivan and already has located one of its jet aircraft there. Hatzolah currently has two of its U.S. aircraft based at Westchester County Airport.
Arnott said there are about 60 aircraft currently based at Sullivan County Airport.
“To get a good result you have to start with a vision. We have it,” Arnott said. ”You”™ve got to have a goal. We have it. You”™ve got to have good partners. We”™re waiting for them to come to us.”