Business View Magazine | October 2019

184 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2019 we’ll have tenants lined up for that building. Our perfect customer is somebody that also needs to use the Airport with customers or employees that need to fly in. We want to take advantage of the Airport and the Business Park at the same time.” In lining up prospective tenants for the Business Park, Brink understands that the Airport, itself, must be an attractive facility, and so he touts its advantages: “This Airport has a competitive advantage over all the other GA airports in this region because of its proximity to both Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley, and because we have a significantly longer and wider runway with the capability to support mid-size business jets, where the other airports in our vicinity can’t do that. For those people or companies that use a mid-size jet, we are a much simpler solution than trying to deal with Philadelphia International Airport or Lehigh Valley International Airport. And we have the capabilities they need to come and go – basically, privately, and simply. We offer convenience that you can’t get at the major airports.” But Brink is also forthcoming about one of Pennridge’s current challenges - a lack of hangar space. Presently, there are about 55 GA aircraft home-based on the field, and Brink says that people are constantly calling for more hangars. But being a privately-owned airport, the search for funding can be daunting. Pennridge doesn’t qualify for any federal money via the FAA, although it does receive Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Bureau of Aviation grants. “In fact, in the last three years, we received about $1.8 million in grants and we made some significant improvements to the Airport with that money,” Brink states. “But in an airport like this, there are only two ways to make money,” he continues. “One is in leasing space to store aircraft, and the other is in fuel. There are some tiny other things, like landing fees, but that doesn’t amount to much. So the money is in hangar space and fuel – particularly jet fuel. Jet airplanes use a lot more fuel and the jet fuel has a better markup than what’s used for general aviation planes. So, the theory was to get approval