Friday, August 8, 2008

Friedman’s July jam a model solution for other airports

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By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer

A recent aerial photograph of Friedman Memorial Airport. The tarmac was loaded during the recent Allen & Co. conference. Photo by

Aerial photos taken of the crush of corporate jets parked at Friedman Memorial Airport during last month's Allen & Co. media conference tell the story vividly. Not a single space on several airport parking ramps was available at the height of the traffic jam.

At that moment, according to a preliminary report given Tuesday night by airport manager Rick Baird to the airport authority, 85 corporate aircraft were parked on airport aprons.

Of those, Baird said, 38 were large Gulfstream V and Bombardier Global Express jets that exceed the design limit of Friedman because of their faster landing speeds and wider wingspans.

These larger aircraft, Baird said, are increasingly the planes of choice of executives attending the Allen & Co. meeting, and thus will create even tighter parking conditions in years to come.

Baird said he would have a more detailed report for the board at a future meeting, spelling out some of the issues the airport faces during busy times.

But he mentioned that if the airport is thus jammed with parked aircraft at any moment, the field faces a dilemma on how to handle emergency military and firefighting aircraft when they need to land for fuel and park while operating in the area.

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However, Baird said the methods Friedman has used successfully to utilize virtually every foot of ramp space is now being studied and used by other airports to solve their jamming problems.

He also said that descriptions of Friedman being a "low activity" airport are "definitely not true."