A screenshot from the Syracuse Jet Association’s website of what the new facility will look like. (http://syracusejetassociation.com/about)
Private jet owners are hoping to lease part of Syracuse Hancock International Airport as a lure to other fly-through business people.
The Syracuse Jet Association plans to build a new hangar and office space for visiting businesspeople who arrive by private jet. “It is going to attract owners, both individuals and corporations, to reposition their aircrafts to Syracuse from other airports and spend their money here,” said Stacey Fruschello, general manager for the Syracuse Jet Association.
The new facility will have 40,00 square feet of hangar space, and 10,000 square feet of office and meeting space for the use of the association’s members and others who come in by private jets. The Syracuse Jet Association has five members. They are investing in the property themselves, making it the first privately owned aircraft facility in New York.
In order to build the facility, the jet association needs the Syracuse City Council to approve on a 40-year lease for the five-acre site. The proposed lease calls for the association to pay $65,000 a year to the city, with annual increases of 2 percent per year. The Common Council is to vote on the lease in March. The Syracuse Jet Association hopes to recruit five more members and complete construction by the fall.
The Syracuse Jet Association describes the facility as a good investment because of the services it will be able to provide and the business it will be able to bring into the area. It demonstrates members’ desire to invest back into their city, say some members.
The new facility will be designed to cater primarily to the business traveler, said Christina Callahan, commissioner of aviation in Syracuse. Members and other private-jet visitors will have access to aircraft storage, ground support, and cheaper fuel services. “It will give them space to have meetings with clients, to conduct business interviews, employment interviews,” Callahan said.
The amenities and services will provide more conveniences for the business traveler and corporations in the area, say its supporters. The location of the facility would provide easy access from the main airport entrance road, as well as for planes coming in and out of the main runway.
Jet association members predict the new facility will help to bring more clients and businesses into the Central New York area because of the conveniences. Ted Perry, CEO of Metro Air and an association member, says this is a great investment in the city of Syracuse.
“We want to make an investment in our own hometown and we believe that we can provide that the city needs for general aviation on a private side a little better than that which is currently provided,” said Perry. After the 40- year lease, he said, the land and all of the improvements made on it will be given back to the city.
Kevin Schwab is vice president of air service development at CenterState CEO, a business- promotion organization for Central New York. Even the appearance of the airport, he said, can make a difference in developing a business.
“The Hancock airport really is the gateway for many visitors to the region and certainly you have many businesses or clients or prospective clients that do come into the area on charter or commercial aircraft,” Schwab said. “A new facility would make a wonderful first impression for many of those visitors.”
(Samantha Sonner is a junior majoring in broadcast and digital journalism.)
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