By David Carkhuff
Eastern Slopes Regional Airport is poised for growth, as studies confirm that commercial travelers especially business travelers are sick of gridlock in major hub airports.Still, the Fryeburg-based regional airport faces its own obstacles. For the past five years, voters in Conway have declined to spend taxpayer money on the airport. Proponents lobby for a funding article every year, pointing out that Eastern Slopes Regional Airport has streamlined its budget, pumping in money from hangar fees and leveraging 95 percent federal funding with a relatively modest 5 percent local share.Today, the days of courting Conway taxpayers while maintaining the status quo may be numbered.Kimberly Clarke, director of business development for Oxford Aviation, the fixed-based operator at Eastern Slopes Regional Airport, said business trends point to increased reliance on non-commercial airports like Eastern Slopes."People, especially in the business community, are seeing a drop-off in commercial travel," she said. "People are resorting to these smaller airports, especially when it comes to your business commuters."Especially for time-sensitive business trips, chartering a private plane can be cheaper than booking a commercial flight, Clarke pointed out.The recent JetBlue Airways fiasco, in which the airline considered a model of commercial air travel canceled 1,096 flights, affecting more than 100,000 passengers, highlights a possible swing toward general aviation.General aviation is defined as all aviation other than commercial and military aviation, flying over 28 million hours and carrying about 166 million passengers annually, according to aviation experts."More than 5,000 communities rely on general aviation for their air transportation needs. By contrast, scheduled airlines serve less than 500 airports," reports Very Light Jet Magazine. "Nearly two-thirds of the hours flown by general aviation are for business and commercial purposes."The General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the National Association of State Aviation Officials commissioned a study on the relationship between general aviation and economic development, and the study revealed that general aviation contributed at least $150 billion to national output in 2005 and directly or indirectly employed more than 1.2 million people whose collective earnings were $53 billion, according to Pete Bunce, president and chief executive officer of General Aviation Manufacturer's Association.Very Light Jet Magazine concluded, "The business jet market has shown tremendous growth with shipments in 2005 up 26.9 percent from the previous year, and up 18 percent in 2006."The magazine article concluded, "Very Light Jet travel technology is poised to revolutionize the way we travel for business and pleasure.
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