Agenda

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AIRPORTS COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	08/12/2020
Subject: Discuss Airport impacts from COVID-19
Submitted For:	Keith Freitas
Department:	Airports
Referral No.:
Referral Name:
Presenter:		Contact:	Beth Lee, (925) 681-4200

Information

Referral History:

This is a new agenda item relating to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and how it is affecting Contra Costa County Airports both operational and fiscally.

Referral Update:

During the last four years 2016-2019 Buchanan Field has averaged 9,600 aircraft operations (a landing or take-off) per month. This equates to approximately 320 aircraft operations a day. During the months of March, April, May and June the aircraft operations averaged only 100 aircraft operations per day. However, Buchanan Field has seen a significant return in aircraft operations in the month of July, averaging approximately 200 per day. This increase is largely due to the reopening of the flight schools at Buchanan Field and in the area. Byron Airport which typically experiences 5,000 aircraft operations a month and averages approximately 160 operations per day experienced only a slight reduction in their operations. This was mostly due to the fact that Byron Airport is a common flight training location for many pilots throughout the Bay Area. Many certified pilots continued to maintain their flight currency requirements during the pandemic and used Byron Airport for these flights.

JSX scheduled charter was averaging 3,253 total passengers per month for January and February. However, due to the pandemic they had the following total passenger counts:

March 1,384
April 92
May 294
June 410

Most of the commercial airlines in the United states have been operating at 5% of normal operations for the months of March through June. The commercial airlines are now operating at approximately 25% of normal and projections are that it will be at least 2 years until they return to 2019 operating numbers.

Current projects are that the Airport Enterprise Fund will meet their budgeted FY 2019/20 targets for both revenues and expenses, ending with a small budget surplus. This positive economic news is a result of the fact that the Airport Enterprise Fund is a diverse government business enterprise that has mature aviation and non-aviation revenues sources. Additionally, the FAA provided the Airport Enterprise Fund with a $1,123,000 CARE Act grant that offset approximately 40% of the annual salary expenses of the fifteen Airports Division staff that were deem a critical infrastructure and essential services.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

The Airports Division staff will continue to research, market, attract and retain aviation and non-aviation business opportunities. Airport staff will continue to watch how the various markets react to the continued COVID-19 pandemic and make appropriate adjustments.

Fiscal Impact (if any):

There is no expected impact to the County General Funds. The Airport Enterprise Fund revenues are projected to be slightly (5%) lower in FY 2020/21.

Attachments
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