The Jamestown Regional Airport Authority will gather more information before considering offering “courtesy car” service for the airport’s general aviation customers.
At its meeting Wednesday night, the authority discussed a suggestion from member Keith Veil about having a courtesy car available for use by pilots and others who fly into Jamestown Regional Airport under general aviation use. General aviation use refers to services offered at the airport outside of commercial passenger service. Pilots who fly their own airplanes and rent hangar space are considered general aviation use, as are businesses like First Class Aviation Inc.
Veil, who is a pilot himself, said most of the other airports he flies into in North Dakota and Minnesota offer a courtesy car for use by general aviation customers.
“I’m always looking at other airports to see how they do things,” he said. “We need a courtesy car here.”
Other authority members agreed the idea should be explored. The authority directed Jamestown Regional Airport Manager Sam Seafeldt to find out what insurance the airport would need to have to cover the use of a courtesy car and to see what procedures should be in place for who can use the car. The authority also asked Seafeldt to talk with the owners of First Class Aviation about possibly sharing the cost of a courtesy car.
In other business, Seafeldt reported that SkyWest Airlines had 922 passenger boardings in January, a 57 percent increase from January 2015. Of the eight major commercial airports in North Dakota, only Jamestown and Devil Lake Regional Airports had positive passenger boarding increases in January, Seafeldt said.
Seafeldt said Skywest employees in Jamestown won the United Airlines Quality First award for the fourth quarter of 2015. Out of 59 small airports, SkyWest Airlines at Jamestown Regional Airport came in first place for delivering a safe, reliable and quality operation.
The authority also approved its long-range strategic plan for Jamestown Regional Airport for 2016-2020. Authority Chairman Jim Boyd said he sent copies of last year’s long-range strategic plan to all authority members. No major changes were made to the document.