Government
BY ANNA MANESS
Airport manager focuses on growth
Breaking it down
Twenty-two businesses operate at the airport. They help service the roughly 345 airplanes based on the field, Sommerfeld said. Aircraft range from single-engine aircraft to larger, corporate-style jet aircraft, he said. “If an aircraft breaks down at the airport, they can get all the services they need from somebody on the airfield through a business on the airfield to get that aircraft flying safely again,” Sommerfeld said. Airport services include a fixed base operator, maintenance facilities, seven repair facilities, seven flight schools and six companies specializ- ing in aircraft sales, according to the city’s website. Fuel sales, rentals and leases allow the airport to be self-supporting, Georgetown Communications Manager Keith Hutchinson said in an email to Community Impact . Many flight schools at the airport partner with airlines to get pilots through their program and into an airline as fast as possible, Sommerfeld said. “All the airports that do a lot of flight training are really the backbone to get pilots flying and into the air service and the commercial service flight operations,” Sommerfeld said.
aren’t typical, corporate aviation, medical flights, medevacs and air ambulances are. Doctors who are based at the airport can be flown to a clinic when needed, and since the airport is always open, departure and arrival times are flexible, Sommerfeld said. On average, the airport sees about 10,000- 11,000 operations, or takeoffs and landings, per month, Sommerfeld said. The airport has experienced a 92% increase in operations in the last decade, according to a report shared by Sommerfeld.
Each month, thousands of pilots take off and land at the Georgetown Executive Airport, a facility servicing the city with private aviation since 1945. As the city grows, Airport Manager Matthew Sommerfeld is planning accordingly to keep the airport running. The FAA defines the Georgetown Executive Airport as a general aviation airport, meaning it sees mostly private operations, Sommerfeld said. While cargo operations or commercial services
Flying high A report from the airport captures all takeoffs and landings during tower operations from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. Takeoffs and landings
+91.97%
150,000
120,000
90,000
60,000
30,000
Georgetown Executive Airport
35
130 TOLL
0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
2014
LAKEWAY DR.
SOURCE: GEORGETOWN EXECUTIVE AIRPORT/COMMUNITY IMPACT
N
Looking ahead
... good and cool projects coming up in the next year or two.” With the airport’s strict pavement standards, additional upcoming projects include repaving a runway in the spring and working on an “aggressive” capital improvement plan to tackle other pavement upgrades, he said.
will begin in early 2025 and looks to alleviate the roughly 400 members on the hangar waitlist, Sommerfeld said. In the next two years, he said there could be quite a bit of construction on hangar builds. “This airport has built one hangar in the last 16 years,” Sommerfeld said. “I think we’re changing that, and we’re going to see a lot of
With a hangar waitlist of 10 years, Sommerfeld is focused on future development at the airport. “The airport has a lot of green space, and if that green space isn’t being used, you’re not capitalizing on the financials to keep an airport healthy,” Sommerfeld said. A project that involves building new hangars
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