Some question the need for Akron to have an airport, but Bob Warther isn’t one of them.
Warther, the owner of Warther Financial Group in West Akron, flies in and out of Akron Fulton International Airport three to four times a week to meet with clients in Ohio and surrounding states. He bought his first airplane and hangar in 2003, and now has two planes and two hangars.
“It’s enabled my business to expand and grow dramatically,” Warther said Friday afternoon, as he prepared to fly to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a business meeting.
Warther is among the business officials and city leaders who champion the benefits of Akron’s airport. Other city leaders, though, are questioning the necessity of the airport in light of a recent deadly crash involving a jet approaching the Akron airport, coupled with the city’s strained finances.
Akron Mayor-elect Dan Horrigan has asked his Blue Ribbon Task Force, which is doing a top-to-bottom look at the city’s budget and operations, to include the airport in its examination. The group’s report is due Feb. 1.
“I’ve asked them to take a hard look at Akron Fulton Airport,” Horrigan said in an email this week. “We need to assess its long-term safety and viability.”
Akron Councilman Bob Hoch, whose ward includes the airport, agrees with the need for a study of the airport. He also, however, thinks the airport plays an important role in the community, including serving businesses.
“If we shut it down, we would shut them down, too,” he said.
Current Mayor Jeff Fusco, who will rejoin the Akron City Council in January after winning an at-large seat in the Nov. 3 election, is among the airport’s cheerleaders. He thinks the airport is a good selling point for the city.
“The airport is another tool in our toolbox to attract both national and international investment,” he said.
Financial impact
Akron puts money into the airport each year.
The city routinely provides a general-fund subsidy of between $100,000 and $200,000 a year to the airport at 1600 Triplett Blvd. The airport generates income, though it isn’t enough to amount to a profit over the subsidy amount, according to financial information provided by Akron.
Akron contracted with Summit Air in 2011 as the airport’s fixed-base operator, providing services such as fueling and putting aircraft in hangars. The city also hired Summit Air to handle airport operations in 2012, which involves mowing and snow removal.
John Hogarth, an owner of Summit Air, formerly provided maintenance of airplanes at the airport. He and Tony Plucinski, who formerly worked for Summit Air, bought the company. Plucinski and Hogarth take pride in the operation they are running, down to the fresh-baked cookies and coffee they offer pilots when they arrive.
“We have people come in for our cookies,” Hogarth said with a chuckle in a recent interview.
Hogarth said the airport provides access to aircraft and fuel around the clock. This is especially important to Akron Children’s Hospital and Cleveland Clinic, which get fuel for their emergency helicopters at the airport. Summit Air also offers aircraft maintenance.
On a recent afternoon, the airport was quiet, with only three to four jets having come through. A pilot from Sheetz brought free coffees for the airport staff. The Akron Children’s Hospital and Cleveland Clinic helicopters were parked, with the crews ready and waiting for an emergency call.
The airport supports about 70 aircraft a day, with 113 aircraft based there, most housed in private hangars. Summit Air has a large hangar with space for 15 aircraft and leases four hangars for additional space. Hogarth said the company would like to eventually add more space.
The businesses with aircraft based at the airport include Castle Apartments/Castle Homes, Summit Aviation Services, and S.A. Comunale. The companies that have flown in and out of the airport in recent years include Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Jo-Ann Fabric, Red Wing Boots, Target, Verizon and Walmart.
Economic development
Brad Beckert, Akron’s development engineering manager, sees the airport as a key asset for the city.
“The airport is an important part of economic development for the city,” he said. “We can’t stress that enough.”
Beckert said there are currently about 700 manufacturing jobs in companies located on land around the airport. He said this is down about 400 because of the layoffs and planned Dec. 17 closure of Lockheed Martin.
Beckert pointed to an Ohio Department of Transportation report from 2014 on airports that pegs the economic impact of the Akron airport at $11.9 million a year, which includes on-airport businesses, capital improvement projects, spending by visitors and the multiplier resulting by the recirculation of money from these sources.
Developer Stu Lichter figures his California-based firm, Industrial Realty Group, owns between 1.5 million and 2 million square feet spread out in four large buildings at the airport, including the Lockheed Martin complex. He’s owned property there for at least 15 years.
Lichter said his Akron Fulton holdings are just about at full occupancy, but Lockheed Martin will create a “substantial vacancy” when the defense contract leaves in the near future. Most of his tenants are industrial.
“I don’t think a lot of uses for that property are because the airport is there,” Lichter said.
His firm has cited the proximity to Akron Fulton airport as an attraction in marketing the site but the tenants that have been recruited are largely there for other reasons, he said.
“The airport may be a convenience” for the tenants, he said.
The city is hoping for future development at the airport and the property around it, with a proposal pending with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Plans include removing the smaller runway to open up room for development and installing new runway lights. The cost of upgrades would be about $16.5 million, with 90 percent of this cost expected to be paid through airport grants and about $1.6 million from local funds, Beckert said.
If Akron ever sold the airport, the city would be required to repay the FAA for financial assistance it has provided for airport improvements. Beckert pegged the current cost at $7.5 million.
Customer views
Those who use the Akron airport give it high marks for service and see it as an amenity.
Jeff King, the CEO and co-owner of SSP, a Twinsburg-based manufacturer of valves and fittings, moved his plane from the Portage County airport to the Akron airport in 2013 because of the round-the-clock service.
“They exceed my expectations,” said King, who flies once a week for business or personal trips.
Warther, the head of Warther Financial Group, pointed out that the seven passengers who died — along with the pilot and co-pilot — in the Nov. 10 plane crash, were from a Florida real estate company potentially looking to do business in Akron.
“The business wanted to come here and do business and that’s a good thing,” he said. “For cities that don’t have airports, you look at their growth and they’re stymied.”
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj. Beacon Journal reporter Jim Mackinnon contributed to this report.
