Updated: 10:52 p.m.Saturday, Dec.
19, 2009 | Posted: 10:51 p.m.Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009
Business jumping at Middletown airport
Skydiving team to base operations at Hook Field
By http://www.journal-news.com/staff/ryan-gauthier/" rel="nofollow - Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Municipal Airport has finally received “the
shot in the arm it has been looking for,” said manager Rich Bevis.
City
Council approved a lease with Start Skydiving on Dec. 1, agreeing to construct
a $350,000 hangar expansion to lure the company’s premier skydiving team from
the Warren County Airport to Middletown. Team Fast Trax —
encompassing nearly 70 employees — have packed their bags and will soon make Middletown their home.
Founder
and team member John Hart said his team is hoping to create a world-class
skydiving center in Middletown.
“Cincinnati has the Bengals, now Middletown has Fast Trax,” he said. “We’re excited to get in here and
start jumping.”
Bevis
called the deal a “coup for Middletown,” noting the business
had an estimated $13 million economic impact in Warren County last year.
“People
are going to come from as far away as Japan, China and Russia just to learn skydiving from these guys,” Bevis said.
“Restaurants, hotels, bars, you name it and it will probably benefit from the
team coming to Middletown.”
The
lease is currently being finalized by the city, Bevis said, with construction
on the new hangar expected to begin in early 2010.
“In a
time where things are going down for most businesses, we’re actually going up,”
Bevis said.
In
addition to paying rent on the new facility, Bevis said the team also will burn
through approximately 60,000 gallons of jet fuel every year. The going rate for
a gallon of jet fuel is approximately $3.50, he said.
Hart
said he has been looking to relocate to Middletown for several years now, as the operation has outgrown its
current facilities. Hart said the group did more than 30,000 separate dives
last year alone, training an estimated 1,400 new students in the process.
“Our
goal is to be here indefinitely,” Hart said. “We know we’ll be good
for Middletown. This community has really embraced us in the past and we just
flat-out want to be here.”
David
Duritsch, Middletown’s public works and utilities director, said Fast Trax
coming to town is an “important first step in turning the corner” for the
airport. Four years after pouring $1.5 million into the facility to purchase
the airport’s hangars, he said the city is still paying off that debt.
Duritsch
estimates the up to $350,000 investment will be paid off within the first five
years of Fast Trax’s 20-year lease. The team also is investing as much as
$225,000 of its own to cover the interior of the expansion, Duritsch said.
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