Business View Magazine - October 2018

104 105 facilities, and you have something to meet every need possible. Rock Hill-York County Airport is owned and oper- ated by the City of Rock Hill. A joint City/County Airport Commission advis- es the City Council on operational matters and advises both the City and County Councils on planning and capital improvements. “It is all private and corporate type of traffic,” says Gould. “We have seen in the last few years, a large uptick in our corporate flyers, and we are getting a lot more jet traffic to the point where we have a major focus on the development of the Airport from that standpoint.We just completed our largest pavement project ever and, actually, the most costly project in the Airport’s history. It was a full rehabilitation of all of our taxiways system, which also included widening the turning radius of all the taxiways and relocation of two taxiway connectors. This was a $4.1 million proj- ect and I think of it as the last piece of the puzzle for rehabilitating all of our pavement at the Airport. It start- ed back in 2012, with the rehabili- tation and overlay of our runway which is 5,500 feet and then in 2014, we did a full rehabilitation of our apron space and that’s about 400,000 square feet of aircraft space and utilization.” There is sort of a Field of Dreams “If you build it they will come” reality to this work, but it is also a nod to the increase of traffic and the in- creased size of airplanes. The municipality has been negotiating with the Federal Department of Transportation since the late 90’s to get a runway extension and bring it up to 6,500 feet. “We used to be one of three reliever airports for Charlotte Douglas,” says Gould. “Now, we are one of two, us and Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport that are the true relievers for Charlotte Douglas. Concord regional was the third but they ROCK HILL-YORK COUNTY AIRPORT the right location for the Airport,” explains Gould. “At the time, all we had was a privately-owned grass airstrip called Roddy field. The Roddy’s were a local family who used the strip for their own aviation purposes. But these men had a vision and understood that they were missing out on some opportunities from a competitive stand- point. There was a need for an airport to have corporate flyers being able to come in and out, as well as having a place for private aircraft to operate. During those times, aviation was really starting to kick up, especially with World War II ending just ten years prior.” So, right from the start, there was a thought that the airport would be an important factor in community development. Gould continues to work for this vision and, these many years later, Rock Hill/York County bills itself as a real alterna- tive to the much larger and busier Charlotte Air- port, with facilities that offer quick, streamlined arrival and departure capabilities for general aviation. Add to that a 7,200 square-foot terminal building designed for the business user with a large conference room available for use and a large concourse area downstairs that includes a pilot lounge, pilot shop, and flight planning AT A GLANCE ROCK HILL-YORK COUNTY AIRPORT WHAT: A general aviation and reliever airport WHERE: York County, South Carolina WEBSITE: www.flyrockhill.com