Labor of love

Airport runways, like automobile highways, charge nothing for use.

So how does an airport owner make it a viable business? The runway may be free, but the amenities are not.

Planes need a place to park, perhaps on a tie-down pad, preferably in a hanger.

Pilots need fuel.

Corporate jet owners need office and meeting space.Aviation-related industries need leased land.

Calculating that potential demand, the value of the lease of the Silver Springs Airport over 50 years is close to $30 million, says Kay Bennett, who with husband Hale, owns and manages the airport and environs.

The idea to run an airport occurred to them while on a pleasure trip to Fallon.

The couple stopped to see an overgrown abandoned airfield, built for military use during World War II, where Hale had landed bombers in 1945.

"We saw the economic development potential," says Kay Bennett.

Silver Springs Airport LLC was formed to tap that potential.

The couple holds a 50-year lease on 150 acres of industrially zoned land from Lyon County.

Of that, 100 acres can be developed.

Rescuing the abandoned airfield took years after the Bennetts bought the lease from a private owner.

It took from 1989 to 1995 to get the property transferred from the BLM to Lyon County.

Licensed pilots, the Bennetts brought a lifelong interest in flying to the project.At first, the couple developed the property from a distance while maintaining their Carson City lifestyle.

Kay Bennett served 12 years on the Carson City Board of Supervisors, while Hale Bennett was employed as the state's director of information services.

However, as work on the airfield progressed, they realized that the project required full-time management and moved on site.

The master plan calls for facilities to serve all levels of demand: recreational, air freight, aviation industry and corporate jet clientele.

In addition to the 150 acres of land for lease adjacent to the runway, another 500 acres of private property are for sale adjacent to the property.

Together, it compromises the Silver Springs Air Industrial Park.

The airport's promotional materials position the airport as a center to serve surrounding industrial parks as well, pitching its centralized location: Nevada Pacific Industrial Park, a 6,000-acre industrial development is 13 miles to the north in Fernley.

Dayton Industrial Park, a 10,000-acre industrial development, is 15 miles west.

Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, a 100,000-acre industrial development is 15 miles southwest.

The 6,600-foot airstrip can handle a Boeing 737.

A second 13,000-square-foot hangar is planned to house 14 planes.Already, 15 people are on the waiting list.

The planned addition of fuel service will make it a desert pit stop.

To serve the corporate jet clientele, the Bennetts plan a 5,000-square-foot administrative building with pilot lounge, reception area, conference area and office spaces.No architect has been chosen yet, says Bennett, who is speaking with builders.

The airport opened for business in 2001 with 1,200 operations a landing or a takeoff the first year.

It now handles 10,000 operations per year.

Capacity is 25,000 operations per year.

The Silver Springs airport became the site of the Lyon County Fly-in and Air Fest, which outgrew its first home in Fallon three years ago.

The Bennetts agreed to a request by the Fallon Air Force base to conduct helicopter night drop operations.

They are in negotiations with the owner of a collection ofWorld War II era military machines.He may open a museum one day, but for now, seeks a storage hangar.

A master plan lists needed capital improvements, for which the Bennetts file grant requests to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The grants pay about 95 percent of the cost, while community block grants cover the rest.

The airport managers are in a public-private partnership with Lyon County, which owns the runway and taxiways, plus sponsor and administrator of grants.

"We wanted interesting,meaningful and productive work," says Bennett."This project has created that opportunity.

It's a big job.

We're taking it one piece at a time."