PROPOSAL UNDER THE SMALL COMMUNITY 

AIR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Docket DOT-OST-2011-0119

City of DeKalb

Department of Public Works

223 S. 4th Street – Suite A

DeKalb, IL 60115-3732

DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport

DUNS Number: 031611213

EIN Number: 366005843

Congressional District: 14
OVERVIEW

The DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport (DKB) is located approximately 45 nautical miles west of 

O’Hare International Airport and approximately 60 miles from downtown Chicago. However, 

DeKalb is located outside of what would locally be considered the Chicago suburbs. The region 

currently has no regularly scheduled air service. Furthermore, the area is not served by 

passenger bus service to the 

Chicago Midway and O’Hare 

airport, requiring travelers to 

lease autos, taxi’s or 

limousine’s, adding 90-120 

minutes to air travel times. 

The City believes this gap in 

air service negatively affects 

the local business 

environment. In addition, 

while O’Hare Airport appears 

to be relatively close, the 

urban traffic congestion in 

Chicagoland suburbs offers a 

barrier that would effectively 

make O’Hare over a hundred 

miles away in terms of drive time and thus acts as a barrier to local economic development. 

As such, it is our intent to market DKB to the local business community and the larger national 

business community that may be interested in locating their business in DeKalb and make use 

of DKB. DKB is in a unique position to take advantage of the increase in corporate aviation with 

the confluence of low land costs, proximity to high traffic rail and interstate highways, 

proximity to several major metropolitan areas, a highly educated workforce, and the airport’s 

existing capacity to service very large aircraft. This marketing will be targeted towards 

attracting local DeKalb County and regional businesses to use charter and on-demand aviation 

services at the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport. 

BACKGROUND

The DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport is currently challenged with the volume of traffic that uses 

the airport. In 2005 R&M Aviation closed their locally operated air charter service and moved 

to Aurora Airport. JA Air Center assumed the FBO operation but left their air charter operation 
based at DuPage Airport. DeKalb Aviation replaced JA Air center as the FBO and brought in a 

flight school but no air charter business. JA Air ultimately left and the City assumed control of 

the FBO and brought in another flight school. 

However, these losses of local vendors stand in contrast to local and regional development. In 

the past 5 years Target Corporation, 3M, and Nestlé have chosen the DeKalb area to base and 

expand large logistics centers. In addition to the industrial development, DeKalb is home to 

Northern Illinois University. NIU is now regularly featured on ESPN and the football team has 

played in several college bowl games. The university has recently completed a new arena to 

host concerts and sporting events. The DeKalb area has been very successful in attracting 

large scale businesses to the area and that success will likely continue into the future as very 

large scale office and industrial developments continue to express interest in the area. The area 

has benefited from a newly constructed Kishwaukee Community Hospital as well as a newly 

constructed High School. DeKalb has also been successful in maintaining a thriving downtown 

and supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs. 

With the departure of the local charter company, the interest in local charters has waned, but 

he demand has risen. We believe that the high cost of fuel, high cost of labor, and the 

reduction in staffing that many companies have had to suffer, has made the environment right 

for a focus on regional on-demand air service. A business person leaving DeKalb to fly to 

several Midwestern cities (i.e.: Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, 

Minneapolis, Omaha) would face a two hour drive from DeKalb to O’Hare International Airport, 

a two hour recommended pre-departure wait to clear security, and a one hour flight to many 

Midwestern destinations. From a charter perspective, the local trip to the airport would only 

be minutes, there would be no pre-departure wait, and the flight time would be approximately 

two-hours. The round trip travel time in an O’Hare flight would be 10 hours or more. From 

DKB the total travel time would be only 4 hours. Multiple travelers reduce the cost further. 

The economics of charter aviation is not widely known in the local business community and will 

be a major component of the marketing campaign. 

Current local air charter service is handled on an on-demand basis. There is no locally based 

on-demand charter service. Charters that currently use DKB come from other regional general 

aviation airports such as Chicago Executive Airport, Aurora Municipal Airport or DuPage Airport. 

The City’s marketing campaign is not directly targeted at locating a local charter. Instead, the 

client will be the focus of the marketing to attract demand. Both passenger and expedited 

freight and cargo are identified as having potential among business, healthcare, distribution, 

and key parts and component suppliers. A welcome ancillary benefit to an increase in local 

demand would the basing of local charter aircraft. 
RECENT AIR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

The City has taken over FBO responsibilities in order to become more proactive in working with 

current tenants, airport users, business users, and to help identify useful options for business 

aviation. Local on-airport maintenance services have been cultivated to provide routine service 

and maintenance for visiting aircraft. Services based elsewhere in the region have been 

identified as options for airport users when no services are available. The City has taken on a 

proactive stance to provide short-term incentives to encourage the establishment of reliable 

on-airport services for storage, maintenance and fueling of aircraft.

The City also permits the operation of private hanger and business facilities on the airport, and 

makes its service buildings available for use as trial facilities to encourage operators to provide 

services to the DeKalb airport customers.

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR MARKETING CAMPAIGN

In order to increase the use of DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport to the benefit of the local 

economy, the Airport must increase the use of the airport for on-demand business and cargo 

operations. The requested grant monies will be used to prepare and execute a marketing 

strategy specifically to DeKalb area businesses that might make use of charter, on-demand, or 

cargo air services. This marketing strategy will include; 1) an economic analysis of charter and 

cargo operations geared towards the local business environment, 2) events meant to highlight 

the proximity of DKB and the ease of charter air travel, 3) events meant to bring charter / cargo 

aviation community together with potential local business, education, medical, and agriculture 

clients, and 4) print and billboard advertising to highlight the availability of DKB as an aviation 

option. 

The City will use the efforts and expertise of the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce and the 

DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation as partners in working with the local 

business community to help reach local DeKalb areas businesses. 

The City of DeKalb will contribute $5,000 of general fund revenues allocated for airport 

marketing and an additional $5,000 from revenues not previously allocated for airport use for a 

total cash contribution of $10,000. In addition, general fund revenue equaling $20,000 (nonairport) contract expenditure from the City’s economic development consultant will be used 

towards airport marketing efforts. The total non-airport marketing expenditure will equal 

$30,000. 
Project Component Federal 

Share

Local NonAirport 

Revenue

Airport 

Revenue

Total Cost

Printing & Event 

Sponsorship

$5,000 $5,000 $10,000

Professional Consulting $20,000 $20,000

Graphic arts and 

advertising consultant 

to develop branding 

and mailings

$20,000 $20,000

Airport Promotional 

Signage

$5,000 $5,000

Regional Business 

promotion mailing 

$5,000 $5,000

Shared advertising with 

Charter business

$5,0000 $10,000

Promote the Airport at 

regional and national 

trade shows

$10,000 $10,000

The Airport Manager, Tom Cleveland, the City’s economic development consultant, Roger 

Hopkins, and the Director of Public Works, T. J. Moore, will administer the program. Mr. 

Cleveland has been with the airport for 10 years and has been responsible for 18 million in FAA 

AIP grant funding. Roger Hopkins founded the DeKalb County Economic Development 

Corporation and has been responsible for bringing $20 billion in business and industrial 

investment to the DeKalb County Area over the past 27 years. An independent audit of all City 

accounts is executed annually to ensure that all funds are spent in the manner proposed. In 

additional, all projects will receive the full budgetary oversight of the elected City Council.

LEGAL SPONSOR

The City of DeKalb is the legal sponsor of this application and will receive program 

reimbursements. 
MONITORING AND EVALUATION 

Pre-Grant Initial “After-Hours” Chamber Events. Limited events already underway.

January Determine print venues for advertising and solicit participation from cooperative Charter 

operator

January Engage graphic arts and marketing consultant to develop brand and image of airport

Fed -

March

Hold follow-up events with local business community

Feb –

March

Prepare marketing materials to highlight benefits of charter aviation

April Print Marketing Materials

February & 

Late August

Mail marketing materials and flyers to regional businesses and pilots

June Hold “fly-in” for local charters with local business community

Throughout Use Free Media – Press Releases, Community TV, and PSA’s.

Throughout Selective mailing / meetings with business leaders

LONG TERM PROJECT COMMITMENT

The long-term goals of this project extend far beyond the grant period. The City of DeKalb will 

continue its efforts towards making the DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport an important part of 

local economic development. The City currently allocated $250,000 of non-airport general fund 

revenue to the funding of the operations at the airport and will continue to fund the airport 

well into the future. This will include the promotional activities and efforts towards greater 

regional use the airport.

The City, along with its private sector partners, are dedicated to supporting the activities of the 

airport, but without a meaningful influx of revenue targeted at marketing efforts there will be 

no significant market penetration. Significant market penetration can only be achieved by a 

concerted effort with long-term follow-up. These funds are necessary to provide a limitedtime boost in marketing to change the regional thinking towards local business travel 

opportunities. The City will then continue the marketing efforts by targeting specific local 

businesses and working with private sector partners.