Laconia Airport prospers since its improvements

By THOMAS P. CALDWELL

LACONIA DAILY SUN

LACONIA — Recent improvements at the Laconia Municipal Airport, combined with its setting at the heart of the Lakes Region, have made it a favorite destination for pilots and the people they serve.

“It’s a huge advantage to us our business,” said Paul Gaudet Sr., owner of AutoServ.

Gaudet, who has a pilot’s license and also has a pilot who flies company personnel, said his business uses the airport on a weekly basis.

“Having the airport this close allows us to transport key management to auctions weekly and get them back at their desks the same day so they can complete what has to be done that day. I used to lose managers for two and three days at a time when I sent them to auctions. The way we do it now is we meet at the airport and my pilot takes them early in the morning and gets them back by 5:30. It also allows us the ability to get to real estate holdings in other states as well,” he said.

Laconia’s is one of the busiest airports in New Hampshire. Lee Avery, owner-manager of Sky Bright, one of two fixed-base operators at the airport, said the airport records 40,000 operations per year. An operation is defined as a takeoff or a landing, meaning about 20,000 airplanes there during the year.

“The traffic count is substantially larger since the recession,” said Avery.

The runway improvements completed as part of the federally mandated safety enhancements are only part of the story, he said. The Laconia Airport Authority also renovated the main terminal, prompting both Sky Bright and the other FBO, Emerson Aviation, to renovate their own offices at the airport. As a result, the airport has a more inviting atmosphere than many of the other airports in Northern New England.

“It’s one of the nicest facilities this far north,” Avery said.

Linda Emerson said the addition of an itinerary ramp for jets was one of the most significant improvements in terms of service. The new ramp fills with jets during big events such as Nascar weekends, and the Airport Authority plans to add another taxi lane to accommodate that traffic.

Emerson Aviation, which has two big hangars, is building a third, much larger one to accommodate the larger airplanes that do not fit inside the current hangars, she said.

“We hope that will help us regain some of those we’ve lost to Portsmouth or Manchester,” Emerson said.

She explained that, because the airport is bounded by wetlands, it cannot use chemicals to clear ice from the runway. Plows keep the runways open and airplanes can come in on 20-degree days when the sun is shining, but the pilots want to get the planes under cover until they’re ready to take off again. A hangar also allows a crew to de-ice a plane before takeoff.

Sky Bright also has a 12,000-square-foot hangar and plans to build a second one later this year or early next year so planes can remain inside and ready for use.

Both FBOs (an old term referring to permanent operators, rather than crews working out of trucks) sell fuel, provide aircraft maintenance, and teach flying. Emerson also offers charter and scenic flights.

The airport is self-sufficient, deriving its revenues from all of the operations taking place there. It gets a 12-cent-per-gallon fuel flowage fee and a portion of the car rentals and other concessions. It also receives a portion of the state registration fees.

To reach its 2.5 percent match to federal and state funding for the airport improvements, the Laconia Airport did collect tax dollars from Gilford and Laconia, repaying them over a five-year period. This year’s budget, ending June 30, projected a slight, $19,000 deficit, but revenues came in higher than expected so it ended its fiscal year with a $37,000 surplus.

“I think Laconia’s up at the top in a lot of areas,” Gaudet said. “It has great instrument approaches so you can fly in and out when the weather isn’t as good as you’d like to see it. It’s on top of any funds available for improvement, so it was able to add to the runway, allowing bigger planes to take off from Laconia and go as far as the west coast.

“You go there on the weekends and see the jets coming in for the races, or people who vacation on the lakes arriving. During the winter, they’re flying in and out to ski and get up into the mountains,” Gaudet said.

“Since I started in 1988,” Avery said, “the actual jet traffic has grown at least tenfold, and maybe more. There’s a lot of activity, and it’s a great resource for the local community.”

Emerson Aviation has been at the airport for 41 years, and Linda Emerson said the majority of their customers are area residents whose summer homes lie as far away as Conway. Although there is an airport in Friberg, Maine, it has a shorter runway, making Laconia the closest alternative.

Laconia has plans to improve its asphalt surface in the future, as well, and new fencing is nearly completed to keep animals off the runway — a little-recognized problem in a region where deer and other wildlife are abundant. The Emerson crew has had to try and chase wild animals off the runway on more than one occasion.

Avery cited an old saying for which he takes no credit: “Build a mile of road and you can go a mile, but build a mile of runway and you can go around the world.”

07-03 Laconia Airport 1

Even large airplanes use the Laconia Municipal Airport, and the Airport Authority plans to build a new taxi lane to better accommodate them. Planes as large as a 727 have landed here, but the Gulfstream 650 and Global Express are more common sights. (Tom Caldwell/Laconia Daily Sun)

07-03 Laconia Airport 2

Emerson Aviation is building a new, larger hangar to accommodate the larger airplanes that are now landing at the Laconia Municipal Airport. (Tom Caldwell/Laconia Daily Sun)