The Albert J. Ellis Airport

here continuously, and Delta Airlines joined the lineup in 2007, offering multiple, daily, non-stop service to Atlanta, while American offers service to Charlotte.” In addition to the two commercial airlines that offer about ten daily departures, OAJ also has a thriving general aviation and corporate operation, with between 25-40 home-based aircraft at any one time. “We also serve as a training base for the military,” White adds. “At New River Air Station, they have many squadrons, including the MV-22 Osprey. It’s a vertical takeoff hybrid airplane/helicopter. Their pilots come over here and train on a daily basis and keep our airfield occupied. We also have two air medical operations on the field, as well as aerial firefighting and agricultural aircraft that utilize the field on a regular basis.” OAJ is 100 percent self-sufficient and does not receive any funds from local tax revenues for its operations or maintenance. On the contrary, White says that the Airport contributes “quite a bit back to the local economy in the form of both taxes and jobs. The state just came out with a new economic impact study,” he adds. “In that, it found that Albert Ellis Airport had an economic output of $474.2 million a year, supports 2,785 jobs, and generates over $15.3 million a year in state and local taxes.” As one of the top state funders for aviation in the nation, North Carolina returns some of that money right back to its airports. “The state has invested over $115 million in the ten commercial service airports in the last two years, and we’re the beneficiary of some of that,” White notes. “And the state also invests approximately $40 million a year into its general aviation system.” Thus, over the past ten years, OAJ has experienced several major infrastructure projects and upgrades. “In 2009, the Airport initiated a redevelopment program that included virtually every facility, with the exception of the fire station and electrical vault,” White reports. The major piece of that redevelopment program was a new, two-story, 67,000-sq.-ft., passenger terminal building that THE ALBERT J . ELL I S A I RPORT