Business View Magazine September 2018

194 195 C ape Fear Regional Jetport is a public use airport in Brunswick County, North Carolina, located one nautical mile northeast of the central business district of Oak Island, which was for- merly called Long Beach. The idea of an airport in the region was originally promulgated by two local landowners, E.F. Middleton and G.V. Barbee, who believed that it would help facilitate visitation to the area’s good fishing sites and bolster its resort opportunities. “They went to the Brunswick County commissioners, and told them their idea, and the commissioners said, ‘Okay, but leave us out of it,’” explains Airport Director, Howie Franklin, who came to Cape Fear in 1994 after 29 years in the U.S. Air force, 24 years at Andrews Air Force Base Special Missions Operations, and 18 years on Air Force One. “For that reason, we ended up being created as an independent municipality by the North Carolina General Assembly in May, 1961. It was a grass strip for quite some time, but even then, there were about 12 planes based here and it was pretty active. The drawing card was great weather and 60 miles of beach. So, more and more aircraft kept coming in. In the early ‘70s they ended up asphalting 4,000 feet of runway.” CAPE FEAR REGIONAL JETPORT TRULY UNIQUE CAPE FEAR REGIONAL JETPORT AT A GLANCE CAPE FEAR REGIONAL JETPORT WHAT: A public use airport WHERE: Brunswick County, North Carolina WEBSITE: www.capefearjetport.com