# PROPOSAL UNDER THE SMALL COMMUNITY AIR SERVICE DEVELOPM ENT PROGRAM

Docket DOT

- OST

- 2011

- 0119

City of DeKalb Department of Public Works

223 S. 4 th 

### Street

– Suite A

DeKalb, IL 60115

- 3732

DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport

DUNS Number: 031611213

EIN Number: 366005843

Congressional District: 14OVERVIEW

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 Chi cago 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 A irport 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 s uch, 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 i n 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 aircra ft. 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 challen ged 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 operationbased 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 s tand 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 Illin ois University. NIU is now regularly featured on ESPN and the football team has played in several college bowl game s . The university has recently completed a new arena to host concerts and sporting events. The DeKalb area has been very successful in a ttracting 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 C ommunity 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 c harters 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 b usiness 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 Du P age Airport. The City’s marketing campaign is not direct ly 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 a nd component suppliers. A welcome ancillary benefit to an increase in local demand would the basing of local charter aircraft.RECENT AIR SERVICE D EVELOPMENT EFFORTS

The City has taken over FBO responsibilities in order to become more proactive in wor king 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 bas ed 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 stora ge, 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 D eKalb airport customers.

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR M ARKETING CAMPAIGN

In order to increase the use of DeKalb Taylor Municipa l Airport to the benefit of the local economy, the Airport must increas e 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 o f 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 bu siness, education, medical
, and agriculture clients, and 4 ) print and billboard advertising to highlight the a vailability of DKB as an aviation option.
The City will use the efforts and expertise of the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce and the DeKalb Co unty 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 (non

airport) contract expenditure from the City’s economic development consultan t will be used towards airport marketing efforts. The total non

- airport marketing expenditure will equal $30,000.Project Component Federal Share Local Non

Airport 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 D irector 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 Corpora tion 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 EVALU ATI ON

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 leade rs

LONG TERM PROJECT CO MMITMENT

The long

- term goals of this project extend far beyond the grant period. The City o f 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 regi onal 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

. Si gnificant market penetration can only be achieved by a concerted effort with long

- term follow

- up. These funds are necessary to provide a limited

time boost in marketing to change the regional thinking towards local business travel opportunities. The Cit y will then continue the marketing efforts by targeting specific local businesses and working with private sector partners.