Economic Collaborative of Northern Arizona (ECoNA) — Busy Summer at Northern Arizona’s Regional Airports

by Community Contributor • August 17, 2023 • Comments Off

Good Afternoon,

It’s been a busy summer at northern Arizona’s three local airports, with changes in personnel, new facilities and extensive improvement work to enable these facilities to better serve our region.

At Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, Brian Gall became the new Airport Director in late April. He had previously been the airport’s Program Manager and his career has included serving as a Development Engineering Project Manager for the City of Flagstaff and being an engineer for both the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests.

He also was an airport consultant for 11 years, working on projects at airports across the state, including several at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport.

Gall oversaw the final implementation last month of the airport’s new paid parking system, which included the addition of more than 400 parking spaces in an economy lot that essentially doubled the number of parking spots at the airport. Parking is still free for the first hour in both lots. After that it costs $8 per day in the terminal lot and $6 per day in the economy lot.

“This is not a bowl of spaghetti,” Sedona Airport Manager Ed Rose recently told the Sedona City Council at a meeting about upcoming improvements at the airport. Instead it’s a digital representation of all the takeoffs and landings at the airport on a given day.

Sedona Airport Manager Ed Rose outlined an ambitious 5-year Airport Capital Improvement Project that will bring $52 million worth of construction and restoration work to the general aviation airport that sits on 220 acres on Table Top Mesa.

Among the projects in the plan include the construction of an equipment storage and maintenance facility for the airport (it currently has a Quonset hut for those purposes), drainage improvements, and extensive repaving or taxiways. It also has money set aside to purchase 2.6 acres of land from the U.S. Forest Service to extend Taxiway A, which would mean that planes would not have to “backtaxi” to use the full length of the runway.

Meanwhile, the City of Sedona is exploring whether to purchase the airport from Yavapai County. Currently the airport is operated by the nonprofit Sedona-Oak Creek Airport Authority in accordance with guidelines set by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Arizona Department of Transportation, and Yavapai County.

At the Winslow-Lindbergh Regional Airport, asbestos remediation to the restaurant attached to the terminal was recently completed and the city is getting quotes from contractors to complete the remaining renovations for the space including plumbing, flooring, painting and electrical upgrades. The goal, according to City Manager David Coolidge, is to have a tenant in the space early next year.

There are also two pavement preservation projects this fiscal year for runway 4/22 and design is underway for the reconstruction of runway 11/29.

It’s been a busy summer for the airport, which in addition to private planes, also serves slurry bombers conducting flights to combat fires. The Winslow Tanker Base extended its operations this year – it typically stops in mid-July – due the the late and highly active fire season in Navajo County.

It is heartening to see our local communities making substantial investments in our local airports, which are part of the economic drivers for our northern Arizona region.