Business View Magazine | February 2021

157 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2021 NORTHEAST PHI LADELPHI A A I RPORT and seeing how that FBO will help reinvent the airport. “And our second RFP is for a solar field,” says Brewer. “We have this piece of land on the airport that is just not a good fit for either aviation or non-aviation development, but is perfect for a solar field. This plan is in its infancy, but we are hoping to create a field large enough that we can power the majority of the airport including the airfield and maybe even sell some electricity back to our current electrical provider. In terms of federal grant money, we were hoping to be awarded a grant for the rehabilitation of our crosswind runway, Runway 15-33. But it looks like we are going to need to rehab existing Taxiway Lima prior to Runway 15-33. Taxiway Lima is approximately 5,000 feet in length and with the amount of work needing to take place on that taxiway would necessitate a two or three year project. We would then look to secure grant money for Runway 15-33 immediately following the Taxiway Lima project.” Northeast Philadelphia Airport is a large general aviation facility with an on-field population of around 200 aircraft that includes everything from the single-engine through twins, jets, turboprops, and helicopters. Latest tenant construction to be completed on the airport was by CHUBB, who constructed a corporate aircraft hangar housing Gulfstream 450, 550 and 650 jet aircraft. “I spoke to all of the tenants over the year and, remarkably, revenue at the airport is only down around 10 percent over the last year,” Brewer concludes, “and so the truth is that we are all optimistic about the future. Next year will be a great year… before the pandemic hit, through 2019 and into March of 2020, we had record numbers of air traffic. It was off the charts. People recognize the importance of this airport. The economic impact of Northeast Philadelphia Airport on the local economy averages over $300 million a year. The airport is thankful to its flight schools, corporate operators, charter operators, private aircraft owners, and the many other aviation and non-aviation tenants, all of whom contribute and make that impact possible. There are approximately 2,000 employees who rely on this airport and aviation to make a living. Our numbers will come back. As I said before, aviation is resilient, the future looks promising, and this airport will only get better and better.”