Social Flights Supports National Assets

by Dan Robles

Social Flights is a private aviation platform that aggregates data and information about Americas great airports and air service provider inventory of aircraft, and organizes them as a system allowing broad and strategic access to the public where the airlines fail.

FAA Issues General Aviation Airports Study

SOURCE: FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a study called General Aviation Airports: A National Asset. The FAA conducted the 18-month study to capture the many diverse functions of general aviation (GA) airports. As a result, the general public will have a better understanding of GA airports in the community and within the national air transportation system.

Over the last century, GA airports have evolved from unpaved landing strips to aviation hubs. This in-depth analysis highlights the pivotal role GA airports play in our society, economy, and the entire aviation system. The FAA has conducted previous commercial service airport studies, and now has analyzed both aviation segments with the completion of this GA study.

This strategic tool will help the FAA, state aeronautical agencies, and airport sponsors make planning decisions. The FAA worked with aviation-industry stakeholders including state aeronautical agencies, aviation associations, aviation user groups, airport directors, airport authorities, airport planners, academia, other federal agencies, and local councils of government.

GA airports can serve many different functions and advance the public interest, ensuring that Americans nationwide have access to medical flights, search and rescue, disaster relief, aerial firefighting, law enforcement, community access, commercial and industrial activity, flight instruction, and air cargo. The study also aligns the 2,455 GA airports based on their existing activity levels — national, regional, local, and basic.

The categories reflect the current aviation activity at the airport, such as the number and type of based aircraft, number of passenger boardings, and the type of flights.

  • national airports give communities access to national and international markets
  • regional airports connect communities to statewide and interstate markets
  • local airports provide access to intrastate and interstate markets
  • basic airports link communities with the national airport system and support general aviation activities

The FAA plans to further study some GA airports to better understand their role. The FAA will begin working in the fall of 2012 with airport sponsors and state aeronautic divisions to identify the activities these 497 airports support, and how they serve the public interest.The study does not affect an airport sponsors’ eligibility to receive federal funding, and does not remove any airports from the federal five-year planning document called the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems.

The FAA will incorporate findings of the study into existing GA airport guidance. The United States has the largest and most diverse network of airports in the world and general aviation is a critical component. GA airports do more than relieve congestion at other airports, and in 2009 contributed $38.8 billion to the economy.

 

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Social Flights For The Right Place At The Right Time

by Dan Robles

There are as many reasons for Social Flights as there are airplanes.  Each new twist and turn in the economy results in new reasons why Social Flights may be important to communities across the United States.

From AOPA online: With oil exploration “exploding” in western North Dakota’s Bakken Oil Field, aviation is seen playing a growing supporting role, potentially creating new demand at airports and aviation-related businesses. Against that backdrop, AOPA, local airport advocates, and the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission have been working to demonstrate to Killdeer city officials the positive economic impact of a thriving airport.

When faced with new economic opportunity, communities are binding together to form their own air service operations.  Revitalizing an existing airfield means more than just getting a few oil executives in and out, it also means attracting people to live, play, start companies and build civil society.  That is the foundation of economic growth.

On May 7, the city commission of Killdeer, N.D. opened discussions of how to renew operations at the city’s Weydahl Field, possibly sharing the costs of such a project with Dunn County, where Killdeer is located..  The western North Dakota airport sits at an elevation of 2,256 feet, with a 4,200-foot runway. It is the only airport in the county, said Bryan Budds, AOPA Great Lakes regional manager.

The most important part of this article is the fact that communities have come together to show their strengths.  There is an existing airport, a fixed base operator, an industrial park, maintenance facilties, a charter operator, as well as many associated aviation commissions willing to secure grants for revitalization.

Social Flights works with communities such as Killdeer NC to list their operators service on a national platform so that booking a flight in or out of Killdeer can be achieved using existing or minimally augmented capacity.  As the traffic increases, the aircraft can get larger until they are able to fill regularly scheduled service.

“The airport is in a holding pattern without an airport authority,” Budds said. “A fixed-base operator, maintenance facilities, charter service, and the adjacent industrial park are all ready to spur business at the airport and bring jobs to the city. But none of this will happen until the authority is created.”  With management in place, the airport would be able to apply for state grants covering up to 90 percent of its infrastructure development, he said.

So if you are reading this article and want to offer some support to the general aviation community to help them channel funds into an industry that whose vitality benefits us all, please contact city officials and support the initiative discussed by the commission by email or by calling 701/764-5295.

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News Flash: Baggage Fees are Good for Passengers

by Dan Robles

Now I have to ask, what is so hard about handling baggage? Why is this such a complicated accounting problem? How many other “material handling” problems, or account balancing problems do airline have difficult mastering? Seriously.

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Social Flights; A Platform For Reality

by Dan Robles

Today, we do not have a financial problem as much as we have a value problem. The challenges that face the world today are far too great to be solved with an “Advertising” platform. Whatever happens next, it must start with a platform for Reality.

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Fly to Nashville For A Taste of Country

by Dan Robles

Social Flights offers service into Nashville from Branson, Milwaukee, Austin. We also offer flights from any where your group or organization originates. Take advantage of the taste of country package or any of the exciting vacation packages below.

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Social Flights Arrives as Frontier Cuts Service to Milwaukee

by Dan Robles

Apparently, communities are not what Frontier needs to remain profitable. They no longer need Milwaukee because they found business elsewhere. They are an airline – they can go elsewhere…. they are not a community.

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Social Flights Solving for X

by Dan Robles

Solving for X or solving for eggs? A hub airport is like a big egg sorter for people and planes (where people are the eggs and the planes are the cartons).

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Fly From Milwaukee To Branson MO For Under 100 Dollars

by Dan Robles

There are hundreds of things to do with millions of friends, colleagues, relatives, and business relationships for 200 dollars on a flight that lasts less than two hours. Or, spend close to 500 dollars on a 8 hour boondoggle losing two days of work and spending an two extra nights in a hotel with people you don’t know. The choice is obvious.

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101 Things To Do in Milwaukee

by admin

Use these blog posts to combine business with pleasure or family life the next time you need to go to Austin, Nashville, Branson, and Milwaukee. Feel free to repost this list on your blog.

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How To Improve Air Transportation For Everyone

by Dan Robles

Social Flights liberates millions of people from the weaknesses of the increasingly fragile and segmented commercial aviation system while retaining the strengths of the hub airport efficiency. Social Flights improves aviation.

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