BusinessTN

Hopes are riding on the newest general aviation airport in Tennessee. Situated between Henderson and Decatur counties, the Beech River Regional Airport will replace two smaller airports in Lexington and Parsons with one that can accommodate more and bigger airplanes.

Set to open in early 2006, the increased capacities of the airport—and its location—will likely be a boon for economic development.

“The airport will be very attractive to industrial prospects,” says Henderson County Chamber of Commerce President Lisa Sullivan. “Not only will it be a great option of importing materials and products, it also creates greater accessibility for company executives and customers.”

Construction began in late 2002 and included moving 500,000 cubic feet of dirt to prepare the ground for a 9.5 inch-thick concrete runway and taxiway.

“We could land Air Force One if we had to,” says Danny Azbill, executive director of the Beech River Airport Authority.

At 6,000 feet, the new airport’s runway will be longer than the others. Technological improvements will allow airplanes to land even in weather where visibility is as low as 300 feet. The Lexington and Parson airports—with runways of 5,000 and 3,890 feet, respectively—had to send planes to Jackson if visibility dipped below 700 feet.

The airport and its planned nearby industrial park could improve the region’s chances of snagging manufacturing and distribution jobs. Also, a larger airport will allow officials to pursue aviation-related industries—such as airplane maintenance companies—that they could not previously.

In addition, the airport could attract a wing of the Air National Guard or a small hub for a shipper like FedEx or UPS, Azbill says.

But by itself, a new airport is not a slam dunk for industrial recruitment, says Robert Pittman, an Atlanta-based site consultant for engineering and construction company Lockwood Greene.

"Build it and they will come’ works in Hollywood but not in economic development,” he says. “It will have to be marketed well and have a good work force, roads and education.”

And while the extremely rural counties already hang their hats on their proximity to I-40 and U.S. 412, education attainment levels—whether high school diplomas or advanced degrees—remain lower than state averages.

Locals hope the airport can also reverse the trend of high unemployment in the region. The airport—the first new airport built in Tennessee in 18 years—will be located on 400 acres in southeast Henderson County, about a mile north of U.S. 412. The cost will be $15 million, with Lexington, Parsons, and Henderson and Decatur counties each kicking in $450,000.

Talk of this project was spurred in the late 1990s after officials realized it would be cheaper to build one new airport than renovate two older ones to meet new federal airport requirements.

That four local governments worked through changing administrations and several years to make the project a reality is amazing, says Robert Woods, the director of the aeronautics division of the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

“It’s laudable to have four entities stay together long enough to get this moving,” Woods says.

Some problems along the way have included airport location, acquiring land and weather-related construction delays.

The airport’s increased distance from Lexington has irritated some, Azbill says. Also, a few complained about the family land they had to give up and what they were paid by the state.

“Not everyone was happy,” says Azbill, a former manager at Lexington’s Johnson Controls manufacturing plant. “But 99% of them were.”

Setting the airport’s annual budget likely will be another headache, as will determining the annual funding needed from the four governments—things that have yet to be ironed out, Azbill says.

The airport will mostly be used for private plane travel for the executives of larger manufacturing plants in the two counties (such as refrigeration equipment maker Kolpak/McCall and auto parts maker Leroy-Somer) and other businessmen like FirstBank Chairman and Parsons resident Jim Ayers.

Ayers says the improved capacity will improve the business life of industries in Henderson and Decatur counties.

"The older airports forced planes to operate with reduced loads,” Ayers says. “Also, temperatures affect runway performance, and the short runways limited us. The new airport will be superior to anything we have ever had.”