August/September Business View Magazine

136 137 significant collapse around the 2010 to 2012 time frame when we had the regional accident in Buffalo and all the rules kind of changed and you had a lot of mergers and acquisitions and bank- ruptcies and what have you,” says Hall. “So we’ve been seat limited - not for the entire decade, but two-thirds of the decade. But those seats are starting to come back with the larger gauge air- planes, and so we’re filling them with very robust load factors. And if they gave us 20 percent more seats, we’d fill them with the same load factor, and that’s going to happen.” The airport’s 32 general aviation hangars are full, as are a couple of big hangars that are op- erated by the FBO. Hall says he’s taking a hard look at adding some outsized T-hangars that are upscale in terms of size and amenities. “And certainly, we’re interested in attracting businesses to base here,” says Hall.“When we build that custom facility, I think that will help draw some of the corporations in this general area that have their own aircraft and can have an advantage by being based by a field with customs.” Ithaca Tompkins is also home to an active flying club that flies 2,500-odd hours a year. Hall wants to see the flight academy business expand at the Airport in light of the national shortage of quali- fied pilots. “We have support from State of New York, in the form of a grant to build an academy build- ing to teach people who want to learn to fly,” Hall remarks. “So that’s a growth area that I think ITHACA TOMPKINS REGIONAL AIRPORT ® PREFERRED VENDOR n Hi Lite Markings, Inc. www.hi-lite.com holds some great potential. Do people like to train in Phoenix? Yeah, they do and this is upstate New York, but in my case, I graduated from pilot train- ing at Craig Air Force Base in Alabama where the weather was pretty crummy and I was a much better pilot as a result.We struggled sometimes to get people through training in 52 weeks because we’d be down for weather, but those of us who got out of there knew how to fly instruments while inside a cloud. So, I think that our situation here, year round, is more than adequate for a good flight training facility and that’s something we’re inter- ested in doing because I think we can contribute to the national demand for pilots.”