By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter`
Dallas, TX – Rolan Henley taxis a small Cessna prop plane up to the maintenance hangar at Henley's Aircraft Services and Training Academy at Addison Airport. On a normal day, this plane would be in the air with a student. Not today, because of FAA regulations in place for safety and security. So Henley says he's losing about $30,000 a week.
Rolan Henley, President, Henley's Aircraft Services, Inc. and Henley's Training Academy, Inc.: That's a lot of money, especially when you have payments on those airplanes. That money is reflected in about six of our airplanes. That's not our whole fleet. Just six we had, real students, booked to fly. Trying to catch up with that money is hard to do.
Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 reporter: It's like this in heavily-populated regions around the country. No solo training flights in airspace around bigger cities like Dallas and Fort Worth. Yet those solo flights are required for licenses. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association says the number of small craft pilots is no small number: 650,000. And neither are the number of new private licenses issued annually: 26,000 just last year. Future Air Force pilots earn their first license at general aviation flight schools, before moving up to military training. So thousands of would-be pilots are on hold. Henley says he'd welcome some government help for his business, just like the big airlines.
Henley: I think if there's to be money for them, to be fair, there should be money for us in general aviation as well.
Zeeble: Lost student revenue is not the only problem, however. No training flights means no maintenance or fuel for those craft.
Kevin Lacy, Manager and Pilot, Addison Express: We're not refueling our trucks near as often as we were. Every four to five days instead of twice a day.
Zeeble: Kevin Lacy's a licensed pilot and manager of Addison Express, an aircraft maintenance and charter business. A good part of his business depends on service to training craft and planes of private owners.
Lacy: We've had maintenance customers that cannot get here. And we've had others reschedule or postpone maintenance just 'cause they're afraid if they brought the airplane in for maintenance, they would be stuck and not be able to get their aircraft back. We have maintenance customers in New Orleans; Denver, Colorado; Calgary, Canada; Ottowa; Montreal; Norfolk,Virginia.
Zeeble: Lacy's not sure when recently-imposed restrictions from the FAA may change. It seems the only thing he's optimistic about these days is his charter business. Beverly Collins manages it. She says charter flights can once again take off, and inquiries have doubled in the last two weeks.
Beverly Collins, Manager of Charter Sales, Addison Express: Many companies that use commercial airlines are now looking for an alternative. People who fly corporate will know their crews. They know who they're sitting next to. It's not a surprise to them. They're willing to pay extra for security.
Zeeble: Collins says a charter flight from Dallas to New York costs about $12,000. She says add up a first class round trip multiplied by four - the rough number of executives who might go on such a trip; eliminate the lengthy security waits and other hassles at commercial airports; add easy flexibility of pulling up to a plane and taking off; and the price seems less daunting. Industry observers say they expect private charters will increase, and so will sales of jets to corporations that no longer consider such purchases luxuries. For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.