Business View Magazine | July 2019

119 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2019 PUNTA GORDA A I RPORT fuel prices, with our hangar rentals, and with our special events that we hold for general aviation. Another thing we do to support the GA side is that, once a month, we have what we call ‘Top Off Tuesday,’ where we go out to all of our tenants in the hangars and provide them self-serve prices on the fuel. We bring them donuts, coffee, or whatever we come up with that Tuesday. So, our tenants have greatly appreciated that. On a whole, we have a very active and great aviation community here.” “As for further plans,” Parish says, “In 2005, we purchased a hangar-office combo and converted it to the Fixed Base Operations building. Our general aviation terminal was completely destroyed in the hurricane, so we’ve been operating out of about 3,600 square feet plus a 10,000-square- foot hangar since then. In 2020, we will begin construction on a new 13,000-square-foot, general aviation terminal. We will also begin construction on ten 3,600-square-foot hangars and about 10 acres of new pavement on the north side of the Airport to give a little more separation between general aviation and commercial jet traffic. Beyond that, we’re rehabbing and extending our secondary runway, 15/33. It’ll be 6,000 feet one direction and 6,200 in the other. Then, immediately after that, we’ll go into rehab and reconstruction of runway 4/22. We won’t be extending it at all but it’ll go back to 7,195 feet.” These upgrades will be funded with FAA entitlement money, and, in partnership in the construction of the terminal, with the Federal Department of Transportation, plus monies which the Authority has been banking over the last few years. According to a Florida Department of Transportation study, the yearly economic impact of Punta Gorda Airport to the local economy is estimated at $1.27 billion. In addition to the wealth generated from its general and commercial aviation activities (last year, there were 84,000 operations of which 10,500 were air carrier operations), the Airport has an offshoot of Charlotte Technical College, which is planning to train its students in aviation airframe and