ISSUE #19: I Want a Private Jet

And SUN and FMAA Want Me to Have One, Too!

I will give you a break from workforce housing this week (but more on that next week!) as we turn our faces to the sun. I mean SUN, aka Friedman Memorial Airport.

More Private Jets for SUN

Outside of space travel, there is no more climate-unfriendly way to transport a human being than in a private jet.

On June 4, the Friedman Memorial Airport Authority (FMAA) took another step toward increasing private jet capacity at SUN in a meeting that insulted the community's intelligence.

The airport staff is asking the FMAA to approve the winner of an RFP process to develop a 10-acre airport expansion to accommodate a second Fixed-Base Operator (FBO) that will provide aviation services to private planes. The new FBO will sell aviation fuel and provide private hangar space, plus nicer restrooms and shower facilities and maybe even free coffee for private jet pilots.

According to FMAA chair Martha Burke (the Hailey mayor), FMAA has no option. It must allow an FBO to develop those acres. By accepting FAA money, FMAA has effectively relinquished control over SUN's development. The FAA stipulates that if you have the land for a second FBO, you must allow its development, leaving the FMAA powerless in the face of this expansion.

Most people who pay attention to SUN's activities are surprised that the airport continues to expand, as it’s not really supposed to be doing that. The acquisition of the Eccles Ranch was sold to the public as a safety measure for the airport, with assurances that the runway would not be lengthened. Who paid attention to the 10 acres they set aside for private jet expansion?

More FBOs Means Fewer Private Jet Flights?

The intelligence-insulting part of the meeting was the assertion that expanding FBO operations would not only NOT increase private jet flights into SUN but would actually reduce them. We are supposed to believe that if you build more private jet hangers, people will park jets in the hangers and not fly them around.

The rationale behind this is that the current FBO is price-gouging private jets for fuel and that there are not enough hangers at SUN for private aircraft, so the private jets do “touch-and-goes.” They drop their passenger off and then fly somewhere else to park and buy fuel, and then they come back to pick up their passenger. It therefore follows that a second FBO for private jets will result in fewer flights.

How dumb do they think we are?

While it defies common sense that someone who can afford a private jet cares about the price of Avgas and is okay with waiting for their ride with the touch-and-go strategy, the thing I found intelligence insulting was that this assertion was made multiple times by multiple people, all of whom have an interest in this development. None of the FMAA people asked to see the data that supports this assertion. I thought only the Ketchum City Council operated like this. Sadly, accepting a narrative without requiring analysis seems a governmental norm in the WRV.

And why would a second FBO want in on SUN if they wouldn’t make money by expanding the private jet market? Does less than half the current FBO’s revenues make economic sense for a second FBO to come to SUN? If you believe that I have a parking space on Main Street in Ketchum; I will sell it to you for cheap.

Who Runs the Airport?

That is a good question. The airport has a staff that runs it. Nominally, they report to the airport's owner, the FMAA. But the money to subsidize commercial flights doesn’t go through the FMAA. That money comes from the LOT payers (everyone who buys anything in the WRV). The way that money is spent is decided not by the FMAA but by the SVSAB, which has overlapping members from the FMAA and provides funding to VSV and FSVA, both of which promote air travel through SUN. It is all pretty confusing.

SUN is owned jointly by the City of Hailey and Blaine County. Three elected officials of Hailey and the three Blaine County Commissioners pick an “independent” member to join them, and those seven people are the FMAA.

But what about SVSAB, FSVA, and VSV—don’t they run the airport? Nope. (Well, not officially.)

Sun Valley Air Service Board (SVASB) doles out the 0.5% LOT for AIR tax to FSVA and VSV. It is controlled by the Mayor of Ketchum, with the mayors of Hailey and Sun Valley having minority votes. A Blaine County commissioner has observer rights. Bellevue is shut out of this one despite bearing the brunt of the flight path.

Visit Sun Valley (VSV) uses our tax money to promote travel to Sun Valley. Oh, and to keep us sunny. We bought them a nice visitor center that no visitors use. VSV is run by Sun Valley Co, along with some local business people from Sun Valley and Ketchum.

Fly Sun Valley Alliance (FSVA) is supposed to use our tax money to pay the airlines to fly here. The airlines make so much money flying here that FSVA can’t spend all the money they take in from the LOT, so a lot of it (pun intended) is sitting in a bank account—which is of questionable legality. It is also run by Sun Valley Co., along with some local business people, the executive director of VSV, and a representative from each WRV city and the County. Except, of course, Bellevue.

Who Does the FMAA Work For?

We know whose interests FSVA and VSV represent—you can tell by looking at who runs them. However, that technique falls short when analyzing the FMAA. Elected officials run the FMAA, so you would think they represent the interests of those who elected them. Do they?

The FMAA seems to have forgotten whose interests they are supposed to represent. The residents of Hailey and the County elect them. One would think they owe a duty of loyalty to the electorate. Yet, as the FMAA, they are expanding SUN’s operations for, well, everyone. One member said they represent the interests not just of the electorate but of anyone who wants to use SUN. Do the Allen & Co guys vote for them?

FMAA offers words about listening to and including the public and being “sustainable,” but its actions result in more flights. Is that what the FMAA is supposed to be doing?

The Dual Path Conundrum

The official policy for the FMAA is “dual-path.” On the one hand, they are supposed to be moving the airport to a less residential location. There is no money for that, so they aren’t doing that. But it’s their official policy! On the other hand, they are supposed to be running SUN for the benefit of the community.

The problem is that the community is of two minds about the airport. If you run a tourism business in Sun Valley or Ketchum, or you can afford the fares at SUN, or you have a private jet, or you are just a local recreational pilot who prefers to fly out of SUN rather than Jerome, you like the airport where it is. You don’t overthink its impact on the environment or the people around it.

But suppose you live in Bellevue, Woodside, or Hailey anywhere near the airport or under its flight path, or you can’t afford the SUN fares (usually almost double BOI). In that case, you aren’t as thrilled about the 25,000 take-offs and landings a year at SUN being smack dab in your community.

The cows in the approach apron don’t seem to mind it much.

Environmental Concerns? Not the FMAA’s Concern

Sustainability is another area where FMAA's rhetoric differs from its actions.

SUN has a GHG assessment. Its employees do what they can to reduce their impact on lighting, electricity, water, etc. I view that as greenwashing.

SUN exists for one reason—so planes can take off and land. Nothing SUN does to make itself sustainable changes the fact that its fundamental purpose generates more pollution than any other activity in the WRV. 94% of the emissions at SUN come from the planes. And private jets are at the top of that carbon generation per person pyramid.

Do you know who wasn’t at the June 4 meeting about expanding private jet aviation at SUN? Anyone from the County Sustainability Committee. No one from the Climate Coalition. Why is that?

What Happens Next?

What always happens in the WRV.

The locals lose.

The environment loses.

Private jets win.