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| New Arlington Airport Planning May Target More Business Flights | Jul '08 |
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| By Terry Stephens |
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The time may be right for attracting more business aircraft to Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO), said airport director Rob Putnam.
"That's always been a goal in our master plan, but now we're seeing an increase in corporate flying at smaller airports on the East Coast and that trend could spread here," he said. "We've already had some business aircraft using the airfield in recent years."
With more business aircraft available, including a new category of light jets, Putnam believes business flying is becoming a more common alternative to putting up with highway traffic, airport crowds and commercial flight delays.
Preparing for increased activity at the airport, including the possibility of more corporate flights, the airport staff is working on a new seven-year master plan, upgrading signage at the airfield and building a new airport office.
By late 2008, Putnam expects construction to begin on a $1.2 million remodel and expansion of the small airport offices on the airfield's east side. The new 6,200-square-foot, two-story addition to the present single-story, 1,400-square-foot office building will create a 7,600-square-foot facility for the airport staff, a pilots' lounge and a conference room for airport commission meetings. Putnam believes the new building will attract more people to the airport, as well as providing space for local and transient pilots or air travelers stopping to escape bad weather.
From their second-floor offices, Putman and his staff will have a balcony with a wide, elevated view of the airport, but most of the new space will be leased to the Washington State Department of Transportation's aviation division. Several years ago, the division office moved into temporary quarters several miles away in a shopping center, primarily to be closer to AWO, one of the state's busiest general aviation facilities.
New airport entrance signs will be appearing soon, too, including a business directory with a map of the airport. It's expected the new sign policies will eliminate sandwich-board signs and banners commonly used by airport businesses.
The airport soon expects to receive $150,000 in federal funding to help update its master plan for the first time since 2001. The airport will hire Barnard Dunkelberg, a nationally recognized airport consultant based in Oklahoma, to help develop the new plan. A significant part of the study will be determining how many hangars AWO should add for the airport's anticipated aviation activity. With freeway congestion making travel between Snohomish County and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) increasingly unpredictable and time-consuming, Putnam believes more and more business aircraft will use the airport to fly directly to their destination.
Airport officials also are moving ahead with developing infrastructure for a business park, planned for many years, for the west side of the airport. After working with real estate developers since 1997 without securing any lease agreements that met FAA approval, airport staff now plan to pursue development of the site themselves.
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