Business View Magazine | August 2019

103 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 BRA INERD LAKES REGIONAL A I RPORT location is all the incentive people need. “People want to fly in here because it is fast, convenient, and quick; they get off the aircraft and they are on the golf course or at their cabin within minutes of arriving.” “Where there is a lot of competition,” Wright notes, “is on the general aviation side. Minnesota has invested heavily into general aviation and we have a lot of airports within the state. So, even within our region, there are ten different airports – from private grass strips to fully-served paved airports – for aviators to choose from. Smaller airports have an ability to offer cheaper rates to those general aviation pilots than what we can do.” “But that works to our advantage as well,” he continues, “because we have the commercial side as well; BRD has two precision runways over 6,500 feet monitored 18 hours per day, complete with airport firefighting and maintenance crews. And in the wintertime, they are completely plowed providing a level of redundancy for approaching aircraft. The Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport is the Airport for central Minnesota especially for the growing number of larger corporate aircraft such as Gulfstream IV’s and Canadair Challengers. So, there is a definite benefit to Fly BRD. Our GA owners and operators are taken care of. They have a reliable Airport centered in the middle of God’s Country where they can keep their schedules because of what we offer.” Meanwhile, no Airport can long maintain its prominence without constant maintenance and upgrades. In the mid-’90s the Airport administration realized that having one long runway limited wind coverage; some aircraft were not able to use that one runway in some of the higher wind scenarios. And so, they started doing the studies and getting all of the environmental documents competed, in order to undertake a new runway construction project - 7,500 feet in length and 150 wide - which was finally completed in 2006. “This became our new primary runway,” Wright notes. “So we have two great, long runways, our airfield is completely renovated. What we are