The risks of Small Business at small Airports by Martha I. Finney Walk into any major metropolitan airport these days and you will think you are in a shopping mall. Walk into a non-hub or general aviation airport and you can consider yourself lucky if you find the Coke machine and a pay phone.
Pilots are too cool to indulge themselves in such soft touches.
And busy corporate commuters don't come to the airport to hang out and slip quarters in the vending slots. The numbers just aren't there to justify the up-front investment. True, the take from a shop based in a non-hub or GA facility probably wouldn't help the airport manager build up funds for that FAA matching grant. But a handful of these managers around the country are discovering that installing a passenger amenity or two helps the airport achieve other objectives. And they're finding the open-minded, inventive entrepreneurs willing to see it their way.