July 2018

320 321 COASTAL CAROLINA REGIONAL AIRPORT Carolina GSE is a global supplier, distributor, repair facility, and service center of aircraft ground support equipment (GSE). We offer complete GSE solutions for new hangar start-ups, MROs, FBOs, military, and commercial airlines. Our expansive GSE portfolio includes a wide range of manufacturers including Tronair, Eagle Tugs, JetPorter Tugs, Malabar, DAE, Columbus Jacks, Unitron, Start Pac, Tiger Tugs, Dekal Load Banks, Jackson Weight Scales, Aero-Weigh Weight Scales, and much more. With our dedication, personal service, and knowledge, our GSE team is ready to build a personal relationship to assist with new GSE purchases and continue to support your GSE in the future with spare parts and first class service. www.carolinagse.com 1-252-565-0288 l We stock GSE along with spare parts in our warehouse along with providing service and overhaul capabilities. l Located in New Bern, N.C. l With almost 20 years in business, our GSE team takes pride in providing first class support and service for GSE anywhere in the world. OUR FACILITY ABOUT US for non-aeronautical businesses. “We are look- ing to expand commercial development into an airport area that is not conducive to aeronautical uses, so we’re kind of dipping our toe into that water now,” explains Shorter. EWN is one of North Carolina’s 10 commercial service airports and Shorter says it is self-suffi- cient; requiring no general funding from the city or county. “We get some valuable support from Craven County including Finance and IT, but we budget our own money and reinvest those assets to keep all the pieces of the airport economic engine running smoothly,” he states. Shorter remarks that as a primary, commer- cial, non-hub airport, Coastal Carolina Regional Airport receives annual capital improvement funding from the FAA of about $1.3 million per year, as well as a portion of the funds the State of North Carolina has recently provided to the 10 commercial airports. He describes the Airport as a “hybrid” because of the strong general aviation and commercial traffic and he credits that fact as the key element of the facility’s local impact. EWN has 45 employ- ees and according to Shorter, the Airport’s most recent economic impact survey shows it supports 180 direct jobs and another 380 indirect posi- tions in the area. “Our airport, in 2016, had a $179 million annual impact,” he adds. “That puts us 13th in the state out of 72 airports.” The aircraft hangars are completely full and there is a waiting list, putting new hangar development high on the Airport’s wish list. Over the last few years, most of the taxiways flight students with a very robust flight training center. “Since the military base is so close - a lot of those transitioning pilots need to get their civil- ian air transport pilot credentials; therefore, it’s very convenient for them to use the flight school right here to do that training.” New Bern and the surrounding area have be- come increasingly popular as a place to live, including for significant numbers of retirees who use the Airport to fly commercially or have pri- vately owned planes, Shorter adds. EWN is also home to a 42,000-square-foot FedEx cargo ter- minal that Shorter estimates does about half its business with the Marine Corps base. “We’re a small airport, but we do everything your bigger airports do, but on a scale of our own,” says Shorter. “Right now, that is about 40,000 operations a year and those are spread between commercial and business/general avi- ation. The flight school is probably 50 percent of that, because things are very active and there’s also the cargo. So we have a good blend, it’s a really nice spread of aviation located right here at the confluence of our two rivers here in New Bern and within what is being referred to as North Carolina’s Aerospace Corridor.” A majority of businesses on the Airport’s grounds are aeronautical-related, but work has begun on a project aimed at broadening that scope by developing a 25-acre site, specifically,