A recognized reliever
NATA cites Morristown, Barkhauer
By John F. Infanger, Editorial Director
May 2002
INDIANAPOLIS - At its annual convention here in March, the National Air Transportation Association honored Morristown (NJ) Municipal Airport director Bill Barkhauer, A.A.E., with its annual Airport Executive Partnership Award. Afterward, Barkhauer discussed his airport and industry issues with AIRPORT BUSINESS. Here are some edited highlights.
Barkhauer, 49, has served for 20 years at Morristown, a New York reliever which caters to some of the leading corporate flight departments in the U.S. He is active in the Ameri-can Association of Airport Exec-utives, where he is the current secretary-treasurer, is past chair of the Non-Hub/GA Committee, and is the current chair of the taskforce that is looking at making recommendations for security at general aviation airports.
About the Award The NATA Airport Executive Partnership Award is co-spon-sored by AIRPORT BUSINESS magazine, and is awarded each year to a person in airport manage-ment in recognition of ongoing efforts to promote a fair and equitable business environment.
On the NATA Airport Partnership Award's significance ...
"With all of the fallout from last September, there are a lot of
challenges. Not surprisingly, and probably appropriately, commercial aviation
has been first in line to get all of the attention. But GA was just as
hard it, and in some ways harder hit, by the events than even the commercial
segment was. I think the award highlights that, and the most important
thing about it is highlighting the need for everyone in the business to
work together."
On how the events of 9/11 impacted the Morristown airport ...
"Initially, like everyone else, we had a couple of days of total
silence. Then, suddenly, we were taking a lot of other airports' traffic,
because Westchester County airport and Morristown were the only properly
equipped airports in the area that were allowed to handle Part 91-type
traffic. We found ourselves with dozens and dozens of airplanes, and actually
had to close our secondary runway for about three weeks and turn it into
a ramp. A lot of nights we had 50 to 60 airplanes, mostly jets, parked
on that runway.
"Signature's our FBO, and they sent people from other facilities
that were closed and they were running a remote ramp on the middle of
the airfield that saw constant activity.
"It was a challenge for them, for airport operations, and for the
tower. At the same time, we had to be much more conscious of security.
Of course, ratcheting up security at GA airports had to be done at our
airport and others without a formal playbook."
On ongoing security initiatives at Morristown ...
"In the initial phase [after 9/11], we had 24-hour police coverage
at the airport and every car was being checked; we're not in that mode
now.
"We transitioned to a private security service checking all vehicular
traffic during the nighttime hours, and a contingency plan with local
law enforcement and our own resources that allows us to ramp up security
to a higher level fairly quickly. We also met with all the tenants to
get their concerns and find out what they were doing. A lot of our tenants
are Fortune 500 companies that have sophisticated security at their facilities,
and always have.
"Signature is our lone FBO, with operations at three physical locations.
They beefed up their security significantly. They instituted a badging
program for their employees and restricted passenger and air crew vehicles
coming out on the ramp. They put guards at any access points to the AOA
through their facilities. To their credit, they did that proactively.
"Going forward, we're going to institute a security training program
for our employees and tenant personnel; a security awareness kind of thing.
I'd rather have a few hundred sets of eyes that know what to watch for
and what to do if something doesn't look right."
On finding the money to pay for increased security demands ...
"We have made some adjustments to our rates and charges - landing
fees and fuel flowage fees - and we've accepted that the airport will
have to absorb some of that cost. Down the road we're hoping that some
of these things can become grant-eligible, but historically security improvements
at GA airports have not been generally funded through AIP. It's one of
the things that AAAE is pushing for."
On AAAE's General Aviation Airports Security Taskforce ...
"Our chairman, Jim Koslosky (Grand Rapids, MI) felt early on after
September 11 that it was important for AAAE to look at security from the
GA airport standpoint as well as from the commercial viewpoint. We tried
to put a group together that was balanced geographically and in the type
of GA airports represented.
"We feel that the federal government will eventually get to the point
where there will be some formal rulemaking or actions taken relative to
GA security. That will logically come from the TSA, under the current
structure. We don't know when this will happen or what it will be, but
we do know that under the very draconian restrictions put on GA post-9/11
- some vestiges which still remain, like at DCA - that it was important
to get something out there that offered the airport perspective.
"Though the report isn't finalized, one aspect that everybody zeroed
in on very early was that the threat is access to aircraft.
"Another thing is, just like there are different kinds of commercial
service airports, you've got different types of GA airports. Just as you
don't treat Topeka like JFK, you don't treat an agricultural strip in
Kansas like you would Morristown. We're looking at four categories, with
consideration for location, length of runway, and number of based airplanes."