Page 4 - Aerotech News and Review, October 15, 2021

What’s the plan to make a plan for airport success?

by Larry Grooms are distinctly different is illustrated in a 2020 Economic Impact
special to Aerotech News Analysis.
The economic study portrays the Aviation Division of the Los
Managers and directors of Los Angeles County’s five general Angeles County Department of Public Works as a kind of foster
aviation airports want to devise a fresh marketing strategy to parent to a family of airports with little in common and financial
win friends, influence people and attract customers for revenue. conditions ranging from rags to riches.
So, the question confronting the County Airports Commission’s Most of the airports are elderly, with the youngest, Fox Field,
September meeting was: How do we do it? having opened in 1959, and the two eldest, Compton and San
As a starting point, newly appointed head of the Aviation Gabriel Valley in El Monte, created in 1924 and 1936, respec-
Division of the Department of Public Works, Arthur Vander Vis, tively. Brackett Field in Laverne opened in 1940, and the San
suggested consulting “A Marketing Guide for Small Airports,” Fernando Valley’s Whiteman Airport began privately in 1946
and defining at the outset, “What are the goals? Who are the and was taken over by the county in 1970.
target audiences? What are the messages and the methods to Ranked by total economic output, Whiteman is number one,
communicate? What kind of budget will it take, and how will Brackett Field number two, and Fox Field in third place, with
the airports measure success? San Gabriel Valley fourth, and Compton/Woodley last.
Going by the book, Vander Vis outlined what he called ex- While cumulative countywide figures put total economic
amples of goals in creating a marketing plan, first defining impact at $279 million, the figures from individual airport op-
intended outcomes, followed by a SWOT analysis, which ex- erations range from $112 million at Whiteman to $7 million at
amines Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to Compton/Woodley. Brackett Field came into second place on
the airports. Using the foregoing information, he said planners economic impact at $93.7 million, with Fox Field at $35 million
would need to revise goals to reach target audiences, select the and San Gabriel Valley at $25.9 million.
tools to reach them, execute the plan, and then monitor and While other more urban county airports are encroached by
evaluate results. development, Fox Field’s economic impact estimate may not be
Comments by commissioners and members of the public, all recognized for indirect economic growth with development of
participating via Zoom in the virtual session, focused on messag- business and industry on 8,000 acres master-planned by the City
ing to influential organizations and individuals already engaged of Lancaster for construction of large-scale facilities.
with the airports, as well as businesses, non-profits and govern- The city’s Fox Field Corridor, already home to major distribu-
mental organizations with needs airports can provide. tion and support centers, diversified industries and government
Although discussion of the proposed marketing initiative be- facilities, offers one-half to 1,000-acre parcels, with master-
gan with a countywide focus, the differences between the five planned guidelines and environmental work already completed.
county airports emerged in detail in this most recent public air- In a concluding discussion at the Sept. 29, commissioners
ing. Earlier in the meeting Vander Vis reported on federal grants and public members aired suggestions on various organizations technology and aerospace career preparation.
to airports, primarily related to COVID-19 relief. The amounts and individuals positioned to assist in marketing airports for Vander Vis showed a video promoting the Antelope Valley
varied significantly. Gen. William J. Fox Field in North Los improvements and stability, including non-profit groups such Community College aerospace technology careers program op-
Angeles County received $32,000, while one county-run airport as Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), Aviation Explorer erating in a 10,000-square-foot hangar at Fox Field. In the video,
in the unincorporated L.A. metropolitan area received $241,000. Posts and Civil Air Patrol Squadrons, as well as municipal and Ed Knudson, college president, said the institution he heads
The point that beyond sharing airplanes, runways, hangars regional economic development organizations, new and legacy is one of only 15 community colleges in California to grant
and other flight fundamentals, the point that county airports media, and educational institutions with missions involving bachelor’s degrees.

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