Flying High

Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport continues to grow above and below

By Noelle Coyle

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to market a product or business, it takes connections or an affiliation with something or someone more well known to achieve your goal. Last October, Williams Gateway found this to be true when it changed its name to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

“People in the Valley know Williams Gateway, but when you try to market that to someone in Illinois, they know Phoenix or Mesa better than they would Williams Gateway,” says Brian Sexton, public information officer for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. “If you attach your name to a major metro area, passenger service will follow and that’s exactly what happened.”
The evidence speaks for itself. Allegiant Air serves 13 cities out of the airport, flying to each city twice a week, and will be increasing its service to four of those cities in March. Vision Airlines also uses the airport, running three flights a week to Las Vegas. When you also consider all the charter flights flown through the airport each day, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport is among the top 50 busiest airports in the country in total landings and takeoffs.

“(Allegiant Air) has proven to be a service that the Valley has been hungry for,” Sexton says.

Back on the ground, new development projects are in full swing. Cessna Aircraft Company, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of general aviation, is building a 100,000-square-foot Citation Service Center on its 15-acre tract adjacent to the airport’s three 10,000-foot runways. It’s expected to be complete by the end of 2008. Embraer, also among the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial jets, is building a 45,000-square-foot facility to house its Southwest Maintenance Service Center, which will be complete this fall. In addition, Reliance Companies recently broke ground on the first of many facilities to be built on 52 acres near the south end of the airport. The first building, a 60,000-square-foot spec office/warehouse facility, is expected to be complete this fall. Reliance’s commerce park, which is expected to encompass more than 500,000 square feet, will create more than 1,500 jobs. Sexton says they are forecasting the airport’s surrounding land to support more than 100,000 jobs by 2025, serving as one of the region’s top employment centers.

Area schools are also building at the airport. Both Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus and Chandler-Gilbert Community College use the airport for their flight school programs, and either already have or are currently constructing hangar facilities.

“It’s because of those programs that Cessna and Embraer relocated here,” Sexton says. “They get a large amount of (the schools’) talent pool, so we promote the campus out in the business community.”

Growth at this once military-occupied airport is supported by the East Valley Partnership, which, along with the airport authority and private businesses, is creating the Arizona Direct Program to help spur this growth.

“The concept is that it is as easy or as economically feasible for aircraft to fly from the Pacific Rim to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway as it is from the Pacific Rim to LAX or the Los Angeles region,” says Roc Arnett, president and CEO of East Valley Partnership. “Heavy duty shippers could save as much as half a million to $1 million a year depending on the size of their shipments by flying in and using Arizona direct action.”

By flying goods directly into Arizona, companies will save the cost of trucking their shipments from Los Angeles to Phoenix. Sexton says they plan to research how much companies are shipping out of the country and use those numbers to create a plan and increase community awareness of the opportunities available at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway.

“The Los Angeles area is nearing capacity with their shipping, and costs are going up because of that,” hesays. “Business leaders are coming together saying this is something we need.”

A master plan for the airport’s growth is available on its Web site, and Sexton is asking the community to take a look and make their opinions known.

“It’s time for the community to offer input — do they like what they see, do they want to make changes and comment on what they are seeing.”

www.phxmesagateway.org
www.evp-az.org