Oregon's Sequester Airport Tower Closures Justified Due to Declining Operations

By Miki Barnes, MSW, LCSW
March 18, 2013

A number of airports throughout the country are slated for tower closures due to sequester budget cuts. Five are in Oregon. A review of operational count data at these Oregon facilities suggests that the towers should have closed some time ago due to a steady drop in operations. Over the past seven years, several of these airports received state funding via ConnectOregon grants and legislative approval. Yet despite the infusion of scarce public resources, continued to decline.

Only one of the Oregon airports logged an increase in operations and those that did occur at that location were predominantly on behalf of a for profit flight training school and recreational hobbyist activity which prompts the question, why should the public subsidize a tower and requisite staffing on behalf of private companies and pilots? Those individuals and businesses who benefit from the airport should shoulder the cost of there own usage rather than rely on public handouts. Regardless of whether or not the cuts are ultimately instituted, public funding for towers and tower staffing at these facilities should be discontinued.

According to a 3/1/13 Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) report, Regional Airlines Intend to Keep Flying If Control Towers Close,[1] the criteria for terminating tower funding was logging fewer than 150,000 annual take-offs and landings (operations) and fewer than 10,000 commercial operations per year.

Four of the five Oregon airports slated for tower closure log fewer than 40,000 operations annually. The fifth remains well under 150,000 operations per year. Commercial operations at all of these facilities are exceedingly rare.

The following graph depicts the fluctuations in aircraft operations at these airports between 1990 and 2020.

The operational count data contained in this document was obtained from a review of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Terminal Area Forecast Report (January 2013).[2]

Salem McNary Airport (SLE)

Over a four year period from 2007 through 2011 the annual operational count at Salem McNary Airport plummeted from 99,432 to 33,901. This represents a drop of more than 63 percent. Operations at this facility are expected to hover in the 30,000 to 32,000 range for the foreseeable future. Salem McNary received two ConnectOregon II grants - $1.2 Million for a passenger terminal expansion and $2.6 Million for a runway extension project,[3] however the City of Salem was required to return the runway expansion grant due to project delays.[4] This facility recently lost its designation as a commercial airport and is now classified as general aviation. Commercial air carrier passengers are no longer arriving and departing from this airport nor are they expected to between now and 2040. Only 12 air carriers annually are expected to fly in and out of this facility over the next 28 years.

Pendleton's Eastern Oregon Regional Airport (PDT)

Pendleton's Eastern Oregon Regional Airport now logs less than one third as many operations as it did in 1998 when it peaked at 41,214. By 2012 its annual operational count had fallen to 12,221. FAA forecasts expect operations at this facility to drop even further to 11,555 by 2013. Commercial air carrier passengers are no longer arriving and departing from this airport nor are they expected to between now and 2040. Only 16 air carriers per year are forecast to fly in and out of this facility between 2012 and 2040.

Klamath Falls (LMT)

The operational count at Klamath Falls plummeted to a 20 year low in 2009 and is expected to level out at around 36,000 after peaking at 84,000 in 1992. This facility received $800,000 from ConnectOregon I for a jet factory service center.[5] Commercial air carrier passengers are no longer arriving and departing from this airport nor are they expected to between now and 2040. Only two air carriers annually are forecast to fly in and out of this airport over the next 28 years.

Southwest Oregon Regional in North Bend (OTH)

Southwest Oregon Regional in North Bend, which received $10 Million from the Oregon Legislature in 2005 for a terminal,[6] a $640,000 ConnectOregon I grant for a runway, apron and air freight facility, an additional $624,000 ConnectOregon II grant for an air traffic control tower, and a $2,392,811 ConnectOregon IV for a hangar construction project[7] peaked at 57,722 operations in 1999 before dropping to a low of 21,036 in 2010. Minimal growth is expected at this facility over the next 25 years. Only four air carriers per year are expected to fly in and out of this airport between 2012 and 2040.

Troutdale Airport (TTD)

The Troutdale Airport is the only Oregon airport selected for tower closure that experienced a sudden and uncharacteristic increase in operations. According to the January 2012 FAA TAF report, operations at this airport were expected to remain in the 60,000 range until 2020. Yet for some inexplicable reason there was a dramatic 35,000 increase from 56,790 operations in 2011 to 91,556 forecast for 2012, the majority of which appear to be touch and go training flights. The Troutdale Airport and Hillsboro Airport (tower not slated for closure), both owned and operated by the Port of Portland, are heavily utilized by Hillsboro Aviation, a private for-profit international flight training school. It is likely that the increase in operations at Troutdale was on behalf of this company. Commercial airline passengers do not arrive and depart from this airport nor are they expected to between now and 2040. Only one air carrier per year is forecast to land or depart from this facility. The annual operational count remains well below 150,000.

Troutdale primarily serves for-profit flight training business interests and recreational pilots. Why should the public be required to subsidize air traffic control towers and tower staffing on behalf of these activities? If these expenses were shouldered by the users of the airport rather than the general public, money would become available for more worthy causes.

The Port noted during a recent hearing aimed at revising Ordinance 389-R, that their general aviation airports, including Troutdale and Hillsboro, "have sustained net losses throughout their respective periods of operation by the Port." The Port has owned the Troutdale airport for 70 years and Hillsboro for 46. The rewording of the ordinance is now claiming that the Port has recently "produced revenues sufficient to offset the Port's operating costs although not sufficient to offset capital costs for aeronautical assets in use at such airports."[8]

The Port of Portland has identified several currently unfunded expansion projects for the Troutdale Airport over the next five years including a $12,534,000 runway reconstruction project, a $1,000,000 hangar construction project, and $5 Million for a taxiway construction project.[9] Typically the Port relies on public monies via federal and state coffers to subsidize their expansions.

Institute Landing Fees for Aircraft Weighing Less Than 12,000 Pounds

The airports listed above are chronically dependent on government money. One funding option that would help them become more self sustaining would be to institute landing fees for aircraft weighing less than 12,000 pounds, as Southwest Oregon Regional in North Bend did in 2011. In the words of Theresa Cook, the Executive Director of that airport, "I think what hurts general aviation is when you fly into another airport and you don't want to support that airport in maintaining it and making sure it stays viable for, not just the community, but for all the users across the country or whomever comes into the airport...So any good business plan says, if I have a cost here, I need to make sure that these costs are paid for by you that's using it [sic] and not by 70,000 tax payers that may not be using it."[10]

Concluding Remarks

Sequester or not, the decline in operations at airports throughout Oregon over the past 15 years underscores the importance of engaging in a full scale review of how and why airports in this state are funded. Collectively, these five airports have received over $15 Million dollars from the State of Oregon as well as additional public funding from the FAA. In addition, the Port is gearing up to gouge federal and state taxpayers out of another $18.5 Million over the next five years for Troutdale Airport projects. Yet despite these lavish outlays of public funds these facilities continue to sputter and flounder. Clearly these dollars can be far better spent on projects and services such as high speed rail, health care, education, environmental safeguards, social services, the arts and other programs that benefit the vast majority of citizens rather than an affluent few.

Sources

[1] Banse, Tom. Regional Airlines Intend to Keep Flying if Control Towers Close. Oregon Public Broadcasting. (3/1/13). Available online at http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-regional-airlines-intend-to-keep-flying-if-control-towers-close.

[2] Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Terminal Area Forecast (TAF) (January 2013. Available on line at http://aspm.faa.gov/main/taf.asp.

[3] ConnectOregon II Projects Approved by the Oregon Transportation Commission. Oregon Department of Transportation. (June 2008). Available online at http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP/docs/co/co2applist.pdf.

[4] Salem City Council Memo to Mayor and City Council from John Wales. Airport Capitol Improvement Projects and Return of ConnectOregon II Grant Funds. (12/3/12). Available online at http://www.cityofsalem.net/CouncilMeetingAgenda/Documents/259/3.3e.pdf.

[5] ConnectOregon Report. Oregon Department of Transportation. Appendix II. Available online at http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP/CO/ConnectOregonReport.pdf.

[6] An Oregon Solution: North Bend Airport. Available online at http://orsolutions.org/beta/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/NBend_Airport_June082.pdf.

[7] ConnectOregon Report. Oregon Department of Transportation. Appendix II. Available online at http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP/CO/ConnectOregonReport.pdf.

[8] Port of Portland Agenda and Meeting Packet for Board of Port Commissioners Meeting. Action Item 2. Ordinance No. 389-R. 3/13/13.

[9] 2013 Port Transportation Improvement Plan. Final Draft 2/13/2013. Port of Portland. Pg. 48-50.

[10] Thiele, Brie. New User Fees at Southwest Oregon Regional Airport. KCBY News. (5/23/11). Available online at http://www.kcby.com/news/local/122444549.html.