Business View Magazine | June 2019

178 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 Leesburg International Airport T H E M A S T E R P L A N L eesburg International Airport, located 35 miles northwest of Orlando, is the central hub for air transportation and business in Lake County, Florida. The airport was originally constructed in 1942, by the Civil Aeronautics Administration as a World War II training facility for the U.S. Army. In 1946, it was deeded to the City of Leesburg for use as a general aviation airport. It remained relatively small, after the war, and only began growing in the mid 1970s and early ‘80s, slowly becoming the major economic engine that it is today, with an annual impact to the Leesburg region of approximately $64 million. With two runways extending up to 6,300 feet, the airport regularly supports flight training, corporate/ business operations, general aviation, aircraft charters, and recreational/ sport flying, logging approximately 60,000 operations, per year. Tenants providing services include Brainerd Helicopters, a helicopter charter company; Skybolt, a manufacturer of aerospace fasteners; Wipaire, an aircraft maintenance and modification business; Flying Colors of Leesburg, an aircraft painting business; Sunair Aviation, the Airport’s fixed base operator; Central Florida Avionics & Instruments; Av-Mech Mechanics; Aerostat, Inc., aerial and firefighting equipment. Also located at Leesburg are, Angel Flight, a humanitarian nonprofit organization of more than 650 volunteer pilots; Lake County Sheriff’s Aviation Unit; The Civil Air