|
Major expansion afoot for Johns Island airport
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Increased tourism at Kiawah and Seabrook islands has spurred plans for a new aviation facility at Johns Island’s Charleston Executive Airport.
The aging 1,800-square-foot facility, which serves between 400 and 700 aircraft monthly, will be replaced with a structure nearly five times as large that will include a pilots’ lounge and rest area, showers and a storage garage for service equipment.
The $1.3 million facility will take about 16 months to complete, said Bob Williams, general manager for fixed-base operations at Charleston Executive Airport and Charleston International Airport.
The advent of The Sanctuary hotel on Kiawah Island, which opened two years ago, has helped drive much of the traffic at the Johns Island airport, Williams said. He estimated that the airport’s passenger traffic is about 95% leisure travelers, compared with a 50-50 mix of business and leisure travelers at Charleston International Airport’s executive facility.
“Johns Island is definitely a destination airport,” Williams said.
The existing facility at Charleston Executive Airport is about 50 years old, he said. The airport was first used as a training facility for the Army Air Corps during World War II.
Mercury Air Center leases the facility and operates the airport as well as the fixed-base operations at Charleston International, called Corporate Wings.
The staff at the Johns Island facility has grown from two people per shift to four or five per shift in the past 1 1⁄2 years, said Anthony Abbatiello, the airport’s on-site manager.
“A lot of people that come in here say, ‘We need directions to The Sanctuary,’” Abbatiello said.
Another factor boosting traffic is “the pain of commercial aviation,” he said.
Williams expects Charleston Executive Airport to start serving Very Light Jets, a class of planes just approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. DayJet, a new private carrier based in Florida, has said it is interested in serving the airport, Williams said.
Aircraft landing at the Johns Island airport carry an average of three passengers, he said, adding up to between 1,200 and 2,100 passengers per month.
“We need a larger facility to accommodate not only the passengers but the pilots,” he said.
Dye Aviation Facilities Inc. of Atlanta is in charge of the project. The company recently completed a large storage and maintenance hangar for Charleston International Airport.
Mercer Dye, Aviation Facilities’ president, said the Johns Island facility would be a little different from what the company might build for larger, business-oriented airports.
“We were trying to make a commitment to Lowcountry design, since it’s a resort as opposed to a business destination,” Dye said.
“We get to do something a little bit cozier, a little less formal. I’m excited because we don’t get to do this kind of thing a lot. It will be a great place for people to work and good for the neighborhood, I think.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
|
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version