General aviation airports see signs that better times may not be far away - Kansas City Business Journal:

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After a six-month period that has seen the industryy take hits to its public perception andbottom line, they say a returnb of consumer confidence and lower fuel prices poin toward a blue sky ahead. “If you’rd comparing it to a year ago, we’ve seen a decline,” says Mid West Corporate Aviation CEOMarvin Autry. “(But) things are starting to leveol out.” Autry estimates his business at is down by 15 percentt since this timelast year. Fuel sales at Jabara in March weredown 16.87 percent compareds to a year ago. However, fuel sales went from 61,769 gallons in Februarg to 66,184 gallons in March. Fuel usage has droppeds at the .
Even so, officials there also are seeing signs ofa rebound. Melissa McCoy, spokespersom for the Salina Airport Authority, says March’xs fuel total of 182,205 gallons was the lowest level seen since theearly 90s. But the numbefr of total operations in the firsg quarterwere 16,842. That’s a 1.2 percent decline from last but, she says, it’s a sign things are levelinv off. T.W. Anderson, manager of the , has 114 aircrafr based at his airport. Although his hangars remain he says he has seen a drop in the numbee of aircraft stoppingto refuel. But with spring in the air and theweather clearing, Anderson says more people are returninv to flying their piston-driven planes.
Those airplanes burn AVgas, and Andersohn says sales increased 5 percentin “I think what we’re seeing is more people, now that they have a better handle on the are going back to He has seen a drop in jet fuel sales though, which he says are down 20 percentt from this time last year. crews aren’t flying throughj Newton as theyused to. Anderso n says of the 30 business jets used on the circuirt to fly support teams to andfrom events, Newtob typically sees 6 to 10 a stopping through between coasts. But he says as more crewz fly commercial tocut costs, just one of the NASCA jets has stopped there.
The cost of fuel has droppedc dramatically in the past In Newton, AVgas has fallen from $4.8i a gallon at this time last to $4.02. At Jabara, prices are down to $4.3 a gallon. Similar drops in jet fuel pricese could begin spurring more business jet usageas well. Accordin g to the , the averaged price of jet fuel ­— $58.40 a barre l as of May 1 ­— is down 58.7 percen t from this time a year ago. For Autry, lower prices mean more incentive to fly, whether for businessd or for fun. And although he thinkss traffic levels will rebound by leveling off now means the ascentf back to those levelsis coming.
“I think thingss have hit a bottom,” he “I think people are starting to have more confidencde inthe economy.”