Airport Rant/mom needs help

Tristar

Tristar

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Tristar
I don't normally ask for a lot of help but the circumstances behind this have been ridiculous for quite a while. I received a phone call today from my mom that the airport board has officially told Precision Avjet where she works in Panama City, FL that they have been refused to move to the new airport. Their last day is May 26th. Over 25 people were told there would not have a job after that. This includes the girls at the front desk, maintenance, and flight instructors. We have yet to figure out why they were refused so harshly and Sheltair was granted with full open arms and no restrictions. Currently, Precision hosts 67% of GA services on the airport. They are a family oriented and ran FBO.

To go a little back in time, the airport board decided to move the airport to north of a very large bay. The current drive to the airport is only minutes, with the new move, it will be a 30-45 min drive from the current location of central Panama city. They promised new jobs and that the airport would not take money away from the locals. They also promised a crosswind runway. They have not held up to any of those promises. Either way, the locals and pilots said no....money and power said yes. The local pilots even created a group to go against the airport board about the disapproval of the new airport....nothing. Last time I talked to one of the local pilots he told me that the taxiways also have an issue with flooding. The old airport will be shut down and ripped up. None of the pilots are being told what is going to happen or what their options are. I was just looking on airnav today too and there are 61 good comments on Precision Avjet....there are 8 for Sheltair. Precision has asked for representation from AOPA as well as the FAA, both denied. Southwest was also paid for a 3 year contract to come into the new airport. This has been the selling point for the new airport. I wonder what would happen after 3 years if they were not happy. Long story short, the airport board has cared nothing for General Aviation or those loosing jobs. The extreme costs have caused probable required landing fees as well as tie down fees. There are none for Precision Avjet at the current airport. My mom has worked at the front desk in the aviation industry for 8 years and loves her job dearly. So although I hate that the airport cares so little, I'm wondering if anyone knows of any Panama City, FL companies looking for a dependable, caring, and awesome CSR and former FBO front desk manager. Thanks for the help and the rant.

If you've flown through Precision in the past, make sure and tell them thank you before it's too late.
 
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Sorry to hear, Tristan. It is sad that airports are being made less and less available, which ends up making for fewer and fewer pilots. This will be a very bad thing.

Can't help in any wya, but the situation sucks.
 
Tristan, I'm very sorry to hear about your Mom losing her job next month. Sure sounds like local politics gone amok. Someone lined someone's pockets in this deal. I'm very hopeful that she finds something.
 
EppyGA said:
Tristan, I'm very sorry to hear about your Mom losing her job next month. Sure sounds like local politics gone amok. Someone lined someone's pockets in this deal. I'm very hopeful that she finds something.
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Those were my thoughts as well. I am also sorry for your mom.
 
I think one of the saddest things for me personally is that I will never be able to fly into or out of the airport that I soloed at and received my pilots certificate. There are so many memories I created there.
 
Sorry to hear that the airport situation is so bad there, and that it has having such a bad effect on your Mom. I have a good friend who is a pal of Don Sowell, of Sowell Aviation. Don lost his shirt, wife and home in the mortgage meltdown. Don is a pretty nice guy, but got a bit greedy it seems and lost the farm (to his ex-wife it seems). My friend told me about this new airport "situation" last summer, and it smelled like a rotten (crooked) deal then, and more so now.
 
Follow the money....:(

Not much i can do from here, but that is pretty bogus. Let's see, new airport, single FBO. Hmmmmmm. Wonder why???? ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$) God forbid we have competition.
 
Tristan, the only possibility to bust this thing would be to get a local affiliate TV station to dig into it. Most of them have one or two reporters that do invetigative reporting. My guess is they could find some link between a county pol or two and the remaining FBO. I'll bet one of them would take it on.
 
Maybe an Open Records Request? See what standards are applied in awarding franchise to the FBOs...
 
Tristan both Spike and Eppy have good suggestions. Now as for your immediate problem, well your mom seems like a people person. Sooo even though the new airport is not a good idea as it would seem perhaps she can get employment with Southwest since they will be a new employer in the area. Perhaps as a Ticket or a Gate Agent. She has the aviation service stuff down I'm sure. I hear SWA is a great company to work for.
 
One of the FAA grant assurances that an airport sponsor commits to when they accept an FAA grant in no exclusive rights. If someone meets the requirements of the airport's minimum standards document, they normally just can't be outright rejected. If there was federal money involved in building the new airport, this grant assurance is there.
 
Tristan, I too am very sorry to hear about this situation. I know that you said you went to AOPA for help, but didn't get any. What level of AOPA did you go to? Did you try the local ASN volunteer, or did you go higher?

Has the current airport's land already been sold? If not, would it be possible for the local pilots and community to band together to buy it and continue to operate it as a GA airport? If so, has anyone met with the new developer to see if they would be willing to keep one of the runways and still operate part of it as an airport?

BTW, I like Adam's suggestion - everyone I know who works for SWA really enjoys their job and likes the company, so if the worst case truly comes to pass, your mom should really look into that.
 
She is going to try to get a front desk job with SWA and really anything she can with the airport.

They've tried the approach of keeping the field as a GA field, no go on that either. From what I understand, the land has already been sold.

I told her about contacting the local news papers and tv stations. She said:"The news papers are bought and run by supporters of the board, we already found that out, same with tv, good idea though."
 
Tristar said:
She is going to try to get a front desk job with SWA and really anything she can with the airport.

They've tried the approach of keeping the field as a GA field, no go on that either. From what I understand, the land has already been sold.

I told her about contacting the local news papers and tv stations. She said:"The news papers are bought and run by supporters of the board, we already found that out, same with tv, good idea though."
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Now that just sucks. I hope she can land something with SWA though.
 
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