Arcadia Aviation to Lease Sullivan County, N.Y., International Airport

By Adam Bosch, The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y.

Oct. 19–MONTICELLO, N.Y. — Sullivan County approved a contract with Arcadia Aviation yesterday for a long-term lease of Sullivan County International Airport in Bethel.

The 30-year lease requires Arcadia to build its first 20,000-square-foot hangar within three years and additional hangars within set time limits thereafter. If those terms are fulfilled, Arcadia can renew its lease for an additional 10 years.

Arcadia plans to build eight hangars that house multiple planes.

Each hangar will create 25 to 30 jobs with an average annual salary of $50,000. Arcadia also will be the fixed base operator at the airport, providing fuel, repairs and other services. Sullivan County will make about $270,000 annually from the lease and fuel fees, County Manager David Fanslau said.

“Hopefully, this will generate other economic activity around the airport,” Fanslau said.

The lease is on 15 acres of land and is nonexclusive.

Arcadia plans to lure corporate jets from crowded metropolitan airports like Westchester County and Teterboro in New Jersey. Because land, taxes and other costs are cheaper in Sullivan, airplane owners could house their jets for less.

The arrangement works like this: Pilots fly the jets from Sullivan County to metro airports, pick up owners and their passengers, then fly to their destination. It’s a formula Arcadia already is using at a small airport in West Virginia, where it is attracting fliers from the Washington, D.C., area.

Arcadia President Robert Garrett Jr. said his company already has flirted with potential customers for the venture in Sullivan.

“We’ve talked with a lot of people about coming here, and generally there is interest,” he said.

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