Branson airports taking shape

Plans are still in the works for a long-awaited regional airport, to be built on 900 acres southeast of Branson. Stephen Peet, CEO of Branson Airport LLC, the group developing the $125 million airport, said construction should begin by the end of the second quarter of this year.

Original plans called for the facility to open in 2006, but Peet said the group has faced multiple delays, due mostly to money issues.

“The schedule has been pushed back probably 10 times by now,” Peet said. “It’s financing – trying to put all the pieces together to finance the construction and operation of the airport.”

Work is now about to begin at the site, Peet said; the group, along with underwriter Citigroup, is set to issue $105 million to $110 million in bonds in the next 60 days, at which point construction would begin.

The remaining money will come from about $25 million in equity that already has been raised.

Peet also said that the group opened bids Feb. 20 for airport construction, though a contractor hasn’t yet been selected. Construction should be complete by spring 2009.

Plans call for a 7,140-foot runway, large enough to handle most narrow-bodied jets traveling from anywhere in the country, Peet said.

The facility would accommodate up to 750,000 enplanements annually.

The goal of the new airport, according to Peet, is to expand Branson’s geographic draw.

“Branson has been talking for years about trying to expand its customer base beyond a drive market, and clearly that’s our objective,” he said. “We want to bring new tourists and visitors to the Branson area, and hopefully they’ll be people who will spend a considerable amount of money.”

Branson West Municipal

While the city of Branson may be getting a new regional airport built by private developers, Branson West is building its own air travel options.

Construction is under way on Branson West Municipal Airport. The $16 million facility will be a general aviation airport – meaning no commercial traffic, according to City Administrator Kenneth Smith. It will be open to private planes and is designed to draw more businesses to thte area.

“It’s to improve the job market in the area,” Smith said of the new airport, which will be owned and operated by the city and is mostly funded by a grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation. “We’re so seasonal here; we don’t have too many job opportunities here locally for our citizens. We hope to build a general aviation facility and create a job market for year-round employment.”

Branson West unemployment rates fluctuate dramatically based on tourism – as low as 2 percent during the tourist season and as high as 28 percent in the off-season.

Dave Burle, MoDOT aviation programs manager, said about 45 percent of the earth-moving work is completed at the site, which comprises 200 acres of land on Ance Creek Road donated by Conco Cos. He added that construction is currently on schedule to be complete by the end of summer 2008.

Filling a need?

Mark Hartman, general manager of the Hilton properties in Branson – the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing and the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel – said the growing markets in Springfield and Branson can support two regional airports.

“Right now people aren’t flying into Springfield to come to Branson – it’s still a 92 percent drive market,” Hartman said, pointing to other vacation destination cities – Orlando, Fla.; New Orleans and Las Vegas – as examples of cities with more visitors traveling by air.

“There’s a huge market out there, and once the project starts, it gives us the opportunity to market to a whole new breed of traveler.”

John Joslyn, owner and creator of the Titanic museum, welcomes any new travel option in Branson.

“Springfield does a great job of providing service – I’ve used (Springfield-Branson National Airport) hundreds of times, and it works very well,” Joslyn said, adding that he also uses the air facilities in Harrison, Ark., and on the campus of College of the Ozarks. “But if we can get more planes to fly in here, it’ll help. Since 9/11, nobody has any fun going to an airport. So if we can make it easier for people to get here, I would think all business would be for that.”

Branson Economic Development Director Mike Rankin said that the new facilities will give Taney County incredible coverage, especially when considering M. Graham Clark Airport on the C of O campus.

“These new facilities are something we’ll have to grow into,” Rankin said. “But I also think of the impact they will have – on the Branson Creek development, on Hollister, all the way down to the Arkansas line.

“Twenty years from now, that whole corridor will change because of those airports existing.”

Behind Branson Airport LLC

Three companies partnered to form Branson Airport LLC, which was registered with the Missouri Secretary of State in 2002. They have raised about $25 million in equity to fund a portion of the new airport’s development.

• G.E.P. Inc. – G.E.P.’s owner, real estate developer Glenn E. Patch, is also developer of Branson Creek, the 3,500 acre master-planned community adjacent to the future airport site.

• Aviation Facilities Co. Inc. – AFCO, a Virginia-based real estate development and management company, created AFCO Branson Investors LLC. The company specializes in airports and other transportation-related facilities.

• Branson Airport Authority Inc. – BAA Inc. was created to oversee the planning, design, construction and operation of the new airport.