AIRPORT BUSINESS PLAN Danielson Airport Prepared for: Business Plan Executive Summary Prepared by: May 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................ ES1 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Business Plan Process .................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Airport Profile .............................................................................................................. 3 2.0 EXISTING AIRPORT CHARACTERISTICS............................................................................ 5 2.1 Physical Characteristics ............................................................................................... 5 2.2 Existing Airport Tenants .............................................................................................. 5 2.3 Management Structure ............................................................................................... 6 2.4 Historical Airport Data ................................................................................................. 7 2.5 Baseline Financial Data ................................................................................................ 8 3.0 AIRPORT MARKET AREA ................................................................................................ 9 4.0 SWOT ANALYSIS FOR DANIELSON AIRPORT ................................................................. 13 4.1 SWOT Components ................................................................................................... 14 4.2 SWOT Analysis Workshop ......................................................................................... 15 4.3 SWOT Results and Summary ..................................................................................... 17 5.0 LEASE OPPORTUNITIES & CONSTRAINTS ...................................................................... 19 5.1 Airport Development Factors .................................................................................... 19 5.2 Existing Leases and Recommendations ..................................................................... 24 5.3 Opportunities & Constraints Summary ..................................................................... 29 Parcel Development Sheets ............................................................................................ 30 6.0 ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION ......................................................................................... 44 6.1 Demographic and Economic Profile .......................................................................... 45 6.2 Economic Contribution .............................................................................................. 48 7.0 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................... 54 7.1 System Wide Findings and Recommendations ......................................................... 55 7.2 Facility Specific Findings and Recommendations ...................................................... 69 7.3 Business Plan Summary ............................................................................................. 78 A Appendix – Economic Methodology B Appendix – Airport Valuation C Appendix – FAA Grant Assurances MAY 2012 DANIELSON AIRPORT ToC MAY 2012 DANIELSON AIRPORT ToC EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The primary objective of this business plan for the Danielson Airport (LZD) is to identify operational and economic development opportunities to assist the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) with optimizing the overall benefits of the Airport for the community it serves. By providing recommendations and steps for implementation, this plan aims to improve the Airport’s financial performance and long term viability as a provider of aviation facilities and services to its users and customers. A deliberate process was utilized for the development of this business plan which is described further in Section 1. The initial steps in the process looked to understand the facility’s profile, existing characteristics, and the airport market area. Subsequent elements in the process included conducting a SWOT analysis, identifying lease opportunities and constraints, developing market valuations, and understanding the economic contributions, all of which contributed to the findings and recommendations which are presented on both a system-wide and airport specific levels. This business plan effort initiated (October 2010) prior to the enactment of the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA). During the course of developing the business plan, the CAA was created (July 2011) and as of May 2012 is transitioning the operation of the Airports from ConnDOT to CAA. Due to the timing of preparation and delivery, as the overall structure of CAA is finalized and put into place, the contents of this plan, including the recommendations should also be considered by the CAA, when and where applicable. Airport Profile Danielson Airport is a public-use, publically owned General Aviation (GA) airport on 257 acres, located approximately two miles northwest of Danielson in the Town of Killingly and county of Windham. The Airport consists of a single 2,700 foot long asphalt runway with a full parallel taxiway and is operated by the State of Connecticut Department of Transportation. Airport facilities include aircraft T-hangars, an aircraft maintenance shop, a flight school, and a seasonal skydiving operation. As the smallest of the six State of Connecticut owned airports, Danielson’s role as a small GA airport is to primarily serve recreational/personal flight training, and GA business activity. Existing Airport Characteristics To a large degree, an airport’s characteristics are directly related to the ability to achieve its mission, which for Danielson is to provide an efficient, effective, convenient, and safe aviation facility. The characteristics set the baseline understanding of the facility for the business plan effort and include documentation of physical characteristics, documents existing airport tenants, the existing management structure, as well as historical airport operational and baseline financial data. MAY 2012 DANIELSON AIRPORT ES1 Like the vast majority of GA airports, Danielson does not have an air traffic control tower, which essentially makes operational counts an educated guess based on various factors. Total operations at Danielson are estimated to be 20,000 per year where an aircraft operation is defined as either a take-off or landing. Historical airport financial data for the Airport shows that since 2007 the Airport has averaged an annual deficit of nearly $55,000. Recommendations to help the Airport to become more self sufficient are found herein. Airport Market Area For the purpose of this business plan, Danielson’s market area is comprised of airports in the surrounding area that are comparable in size, function, or service level. In broader terms, Danielson’s market area includes the surrounding airports from which Danielson draws business from and vice versa. There are a total of 837 based aircraft within the market area of Danielson Airport and the full business plan provides a comparison of based aircraft and operations data between Danielson and the airports within its market. Also presented is a further comparison of the typical services/amenities offered within the market since a correlation can often be made between an airport’s market share and the level of services it offers. The SWOT Analysis identified what participants considered some of the Airport’s limiting factors in terms of weaknesses and constraints. A culmination of these factors was used to provide recommendations that are intended to guide and to improve the Airport’s ability to attract business and increase its market share of based aircraft, operations, and services. SWOT Analysis Prior to the development of alternatives and recommendations regarding the operational and economic development opportunities at Danielson Airport, it was necessary to bring airport stakeholders together to discuss various aspects of the Airport’s existing operating and business environments. As mentioned, a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) hosted in a workshop format was facilitated by the study’s business planning team. The SWOT Analysis Workshop for Danielson was conducted on December 9, 2010. The information obtained by the team was used to define operational and economic development opportunities which will assist the Airport and the Airport Operator in optimizing the Airport’s assets and achieving the Operator’s mission. The results of the SWOT analysis provided a comprehensive and balanced description of the business environment the Airport is operating within and was used by the study team to help identify focus areas for the business plan and make recommendations to help the Airport capitalize on their strengths and identify potential opportunities. The SWOT workshops were conducted at each of the State of Connecticut’s five GA airports, and the results from each airport were generally guided by two common themes; those specific MAY 2012 DANIELSON AIRPORT ES2 to the facility, and those concerning the entire system of airports owned and operated by the State. Lease Opportunities and Constraints Understanding the opportunities and constraints