Ocala approves airport rules

June 06--The new minimum standards for commercial aeronautical services at Ocala International Airport passed the Ocala City Council's scrutiny with flying colors.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to amend the requirements that must be met by those wishing to sell fuel at the city-owned airport off Southwest 60th Avenue.

"There's a little give and take to everything," Terry Crawford, chairman and 30-year member of the city's Airport Advisory Board, said after the vote. "I think it's reasonable. I think it's fair. I think it will make the airport a better place for the users of the airport."

The airport board initially opposed lowering the standards that have been in effect since 1988, with a few revisions in 2000 and 2006.

The old standards required a fixed-base operator (FBO) that sells fuel also to provide maintenance and three other services: flight training, aircraft rental and avionics.

The new standards, which are undergoing legal review by the city attorney, are based on a weighted point system.

Rather than requiring specific services, an FBO, in addition to selling fuel, would choose among 11 services, each with an assigned point value. To meet the minimum standard, the FBO's services must add up to three points.

Large maintenance is two points. Small maintenance, avionics (radio), aircraft charter and aircraft paint are one point each. Interior renovations, aircraft sales, propeller repair, aircraft washing and detailing, aircraft training and aircraft rental are each worth 0.5 points.

Airport Director Matthew Grow told the council that the new standards protect the current FBO, Landmark Aviation. Landmark currently meets the old standards and, as such, also meets the new standards.

There also are new minimum space requirements. Under the new standards, a business that sells fuel must have a minimum ground lease of 10 acres, have 10,000 square feet of hangar space, build 5,000 square feet of office or terminal space and provide no less than four acres of paved ramp space.

"Basically, you still need to put a sizeable investment in the airport if you want to sell fuel at the airport," Grow said Wednesday.

But there is no requirement under the new point system -- as there had been under the former standards -- that an FBO must offer maintenance.

"We are not stipulating maintenance," Grow said. "They just have to come up with three (points)."

The city is changing the standards in hopes of attracting new business to the airport. Ocala International has some of the highest fuel prices in the area, and as a result, pilots often fly to neighboring airports to buy their fuel at lower cost. The city is paid 3 cents on every gallon of fuel that is sold. Selling fuel is typically the most lucrative of the services provided at airports.

"What's nice about the way we did it, it's not a lowering of the standards in any respect. We are just changing the way we are accounting for it," Grow said about the standards. "They are unique. It covers everything that I initially said I wanted to do with these standards."

Contact Susan Latham Carr at 867-4156 or [email protected].

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