General aviation airports see signs that better times may not be far away - Memphis Business Journal:

ejyceh.wordpress.com
After a six-month period that has seen the industryh take hits to its public perceptiom andbottom line, they say a returjn of consumer confidence and lower fuel priceas point toward a blue sky “If you’re comparing it to a year ago, yeah, we’vs seen a decline,” says Mid West Corporate Aviation CEO Marvin Autry. “(But) things are starting to level out.” Autry estimatez his business at is down by 15 percent sincew this timelast year. Fuel sales at Jabara in March weredown 16.87 percenty compared to a year ago. However, fuel sales went from 61,7690 gallons in February to 66,184 gallons in March. Fuel usagse has dropped at the .
Even so, officials there also are seeing signs ofa rebound. Melissa spokesperson for the SalinzaAirport Authority, says March’s fuel totall of 182,205 gallons was the lowest level seen since the early 90s. But the number of totalo operations in the first quarterwere 16,842. That’sw a 1.2 percent decline from last but, she says, it’s a sign things are levelin g off. T.W. Anderson, manager of the , has 114 aircrafr based at his Although his hangarsremain full, he says he has seen a drop in the numbed of aircraft stopping to refuel.
But with spring in the air and theweathee clearing, Anderson says more people are returning to flying their piston-driven Those airplanes burn AVgas, and Anderson says sales increasedr 5 percent in “I think what we’rre seeing is more people, now that they have a better handle on the economy, are going back to He has seen a drop in jet fuel sales which he says are down 20 perceng from this time last year. crewsw aren’t flying through Newton as theyused to. Andersobn says of the 30 business jets used on the circuitr to fly support teams to and from Newton typically sees 6 to 10 a stopping throughbetween coasts.
But he says as more crewa fly commercial tocut costs, just one of the NASCAt jets has stopped there. The cost of fuel has dropperd dramatically in thepast year. In Newton, AVgasa has fallen from $4.88 a gallon at this time last to $4.02. At Jabara, prices are down to $4.39o a gallon. Similar drops in jet fuel priceas could begin spurring more business jet usagras well. According to the , the averagre price of jet fuel ­— $58.40 a barrel as of May 1 is down 58.7 percent from this time a year ago. For lower prices mean more incentiveto fly, whetheer for business or for fun.
And althougj he thinks traffic levels will reboundby 2010, levelingg off now means the ascent back to thosse levels is coming. “I think things have hit a he says. “I thinkm people are starting to have more confidence inthe