It may not be hosting NBAA 2018’s static display, but Orlando’s Kissimmee Gateway Airport (ISM) nonetheless gets a fair share of attention as a port of entry to the convention. Airport director Terry Lloyd ticked off some of the reasons: “We are actually closer to the [Orange County] Convention Center than Orlando Executive [ORL] is.” ISM is also “a little more discreet” for attendees seeking to avoid hubbub and crowds when they fly in for the event. And when it’s time to leave on peak days, “We get permission from the FAA to extend the [control] tower hours”—normally 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.—to facilitate late-night departures.
While ORL may have display aircraft, aircraft shoppers often pass through ISM during the show, Lloyd noted, as Kissimmee typically hosts OEMs' demo aircraft, “ready to fly for serious potential customers to take a ride in.”
This week Lloyd and the Kissimmee Gateway Airport team are at the convention center (Booth 2007) highlighting the airport’s attractions, whether for access to NBAA, for business or pleasure year round, or as it turns out this year, for establishing a green field facility by the airport.
Owned by the city of Kissimmee, ISM has two runways: a 5,001-footer (6/24) and the 6,001-foot main runway (15/33). “We call that the moneymaker,” Lloyd said of the 6,000-footer. “That’s the one that keeps the corporate aircraft coming in. Five is okay, but six thousand is better.” The runways can support aircraft as large as BBJs. A major pavement rehabilitation with new sealcoat on 15/33 was completed this year along with a runway lighting upgrade to LEDs.
The airport’s three FBOs—Signature Flight Support, Odyssey Aviation, and Kissimmee Jet Center—provide a range of options for transient operators.
Signature Flight Support has a 7,000-sq-ft airside canopy that can accommodate aircraft as large as a BBJ, providing shelter from inclement weather and the sun. During NBAA, Signature is offering $1 per gallon off the posted retail price of jet-A and a free night’s parking. At Odyssey Aviation, transients can enter a drawing for a three-day Disney vacation. Kissimmee Jet Center offers unlimited free parking with minimum purchase of 15 gallons of fuel.
ISM is also noted for the aviation businesses on the field. Warbird Adventures offers flights in a dual-control P-40 Warhawk and T-6 Texans, and its Kissimmee Air Museum has more than a score of aircraft on display and showcases ongoing restoration work. Stallion 51 provides P-51 Mustang orientation and training flights with highly experienced instructors. NBAA exhibitor Unusual Attitude Training (Booth 1809) offers corporate programs using an EFIS-equipped L-39 jet whose handling characteristics are similar to current corporate jets.
This year ISM is also marking the inauguration of a new charter aviation high school on the airport grounds, the Florida Aviation Academy, which just inducted its first freshman class. The 13-acre site will ultimately have 800 students, with maintenance, engineering, UAS, professional pilot track, and Navy ROTC programs. For now the school is using portable buildings and classrooms at Aviator College of Aeronautical Science and Technology, also on the airport, which offers flight training and aviation maintenance technician programs, and a commercial pilot associate's degree program.
In addition to proximity to the Orange County Convention Center, ISM is also the closest airport to the Disney and Universal theme parks and “some of the large convention hotel properties are even closer than the convention center,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd recalls noticing one year “the FBOs were getting a lot of jets, but there were no major events” occurring. “I started asking questions, and it turned out there were 3,000 orthopedic surgeons at the Gaylord Palms [Resort & Convention Center]. They were driving as much jet traffic as a convention with 30-, 40-, 50,000 attendees,” he said.
During such traffic surges, the airport has closed the secondary runway for overflow parking, but that’s not necessary anymore as aircraft now are typically chartered out rather than left idle on a ramp. “These days, anyone with a corporate jet tries to keep it in motion,” Lloyd said.
Meanwhile, the municipality has just provided road access to an adjacent city-owned parcel suitable for business and industrial development. Lease revenue is earmarked for airport operations, “so we’re doing a full court press marketing that property,” Lloyd said. “We’ve got water and sewer easily available, and people can come in, design what they want, and construct a building for their operations.” And it comes with immediate access to the airport.
Looking ahead, the airport is considering adding hangars, but Lloyd noted municipal authorities are “still gun-shy from the recession” and reluctant to invest in the infrastructure “unless they know they’re leaving a lot of money on the table from not having them.”