Business View Magazine | October 2020

179 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2020 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY A I RPORTS and concrete runways: 1L/19R is 5,001 by 150 feet; 1R/19L is 2,770 by 75 feet; 14L/32R is 4,602 by 150 feet; and 14R/32L is 2,799 by 75 feet. While over the years, the Airport has had regular commercial airline service, today, it is only served by JetSuiteX, which runs scheduled charters between the Airport and Burbank, CA, and Las Vegas, NV, and, according to Keith Freitas, Director of Airports for Contra Costa County, is hoping to expand its service to San Diego, Phoenix, Portland, and Seattle. The Airport is also the home base of approximately 450 general aviation aircraft and over two dozen business jets, as well as many aviation and non-aviation based businesses, including: three FBOs, several air charter and leasing companies, flight schools and flying clubs, an air medical transport firm, a U.S. Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol, a Crowne Plaza Hotel, restaurants, car sales and rental companies, a Sam’s Club, and the Buchanan Fields Golf Course. Byron Airport is Contra Costa County’s other air facility. It opened in 1994 to provide greater services to the eastern part of the county. Located approximately three miles south of the Town of Byron, the Airport covers 1,421 acres and has two asphalt runways: 12/30 is 4,500 x 100 feet, and 5/23 is 3,000 x 75 feet. It is an ideal facility for general aviation and a popular base for skydivers, gliders, and other recreational flight activities. Freitas says that finding a niche for Byron Airport has been a major objective of his for the last two years, and now reports that he has successfully established the airfield as the Bay Area Test Site (BATS) for developing UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) and products that need aviation testing and development environments. “In March of this year, we signed an agreement with one of the seven designated FAA test sites in the United States,” he explains. “We’re now a satellite location for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and their Pan Pacific UAS Test Range.”