FOr small-craft pilots, Knoxville's Downtown Island Airport is a convenient port of call for doing business or having fun in the city. But what is the facility's future?

by Joe Morris

Boating, fishing, and other aquatic activities are standard fare along the Tennessee River, but as it winds through the downtown area, an island in the stream supports a more novel function: a commercial airport, Downtown Island.

Knoxville's second airport (the first was just off Sutherland Boulevard, where the University of Tennessee's married student housing complex is located) and Dickinson Island upon which it sits are owned by the city and administered by the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. And they've been the focus of a flurry of recent activity, as well as some speculation about Island Home's aviatory future.

The site is easy to miss. A right turn instead of a left takes one into the Island Home neighborhood, ending at the gates of the Tennessee School for the Deaf. Follow the river, however, and a stand of trees bends left to open onto a small bridge; and suddenly you're on the island, and a few hundred feet away from the runway, with small aircraft buzzing up and down on the landing field, circling around the hangars and buildings clustered at the site.

Those involved with the facility, including its current manager, say Downtown Island is seeing business as usual, if not better. Nonetheless, the fact remains that the bustle at the airport isn't quite what it used to be. Over time, the tower has been closed except for high-traffic events such as University of Tennessee football games, and the city has steadily increased the property's rent to keep income levels as high as possible. That has some thinking that the facility's days are numbered. But the current lease holder, Tim Grater, owner of Campbell Aero, thinks such talk lacks substance.

"For the very near future and the somewhat distant future, this will be an airport," Grater says. "Twenty years from now, who knows? It's hard to tell; administrations come and go. But they wouldn't invest $800,000 in a T-hangar then put in condos. If they do, though, it'll be a great view."

Grater brings some history to his job. Having bought Campbell Aero from its founder in 1987, he also worked for Downtown Island's former lease holder, Stevens Aviation. When that company left the airport rather abruptly at the expiration of its lease last May, Campbell Aero moved in to take over the contract. The move was so fast, in fact, Grater recalled that "a bunch of keys were in a bucket in the office, not labeled or anything."

"Stevens left in a hurry, basically saying, 'So long, have a nice life,'" Grater says. "We put in a quick bid and due to the amount—or lack of—information we had, we put together the best proposal. No one had access to the information we needed, like the utility bills. We were selected to run the airport, then go into a long-term agreement."

Stevens claimed at the time that the airport authority's new lease terms increased its operating costs five-fold and that activity did not support the fees the company would have to charge to make up the difference.

Campbell Aero has run the airport in the interim and put in a bid for a new long-term contract. But when Grater's business partner, John Baugh, departed in October, airport officials became concerned about the management shake-up affecting Campbell's ability to run the airport. The authority gave an outside firm control of the bidding process, instructing it to weigh factors including a company's history as well as the amount of the bids themselves. In December, the authority announced negotiations with Hawthorne Corp. of Charleston, S.C., to manage the airport. According to Arthur Seymour, airport authority board chairman, Grater was considered, but Hawthorne's management experience tilted the odds in its favor.

Hawthorne president Dean Harton has said that he hopes to have a contract ready for the authority's approval early this year and also that he hopes to maintain a working relationship with Campbell. Only time will tell just how broad that arrangement would be, but whatever happens, Grater says he will maintain his company on the island and that he understands the city's position.

"The airport authority's objective is to get the best deal they can for the city, regardless of how I feel," he says. "A lot of money has been spent here, and they want to keep the income flowing as much as possible."

There are those whose views on the leasing and administration process in recent months are more pointed. Chuck Adamson, one of the pilots who regularly uses the facility, thinks the city's actions may be designed to make air traffic prohibitively expensive on the island, thus freeing it up for commercial development.

"This follows a pattern," he says. "When the city quadrupled the rent, it made it so high that it's hard for whoever is managing [the airport] to survive financially. Every two weeks a public airport gets closed down. There are two ways to do that—noise lawsuits and what they've done here."

As an example, he cites Denver's new international airport, which he said also involved retail and residential developments that benefited the city and those with ties to its administration.

"When you get right down to it, a city council's main business is real estate development," Adamson says. "Here in Knoxville, whether it's a justice center or the river front, their main energies go there. That's all right, because that's what a city is—real estate."

A view of the downtown skyline would be nice, certainly, but that scenario seems unlikely given the improvements planned for the airport. In addition to the new hangar, there are several other projects in the works, says Bill Marrison, the airport authority's senior vice president.

"We are currently in the process of starting a bank stabilization project, which will prevent erosion at the ends of the island," he says. Also planned are a new visual navigation system that will help pilots determine their height above the ground on approach, a new electric security gate for access to the island, and a new fuel system that will allow for self-fueling. There also has been extensive work over the years on the 3,497-foot runway (aeronautics is an exact science). The authority's master plan calls for almost all of the island eventually to be used for airport-related purposes, Marrison says.

The airport's history goes about as far back as that of commercial aviation. Area newspapers covered events at the 300-acre island as far back as 1919. It was closed when World War II broke out, only to be reopened and used as a training facility. In 1962, the city began the process of purchasing the island and airport. The state contributed $70,000 to the sale, which the city had to match, with the remaining $140,000 to come from federal funding. U.S. Senator Albert Gore Sr. secured the federal funding and the project was off and running, but not without some heated debate among legendary local figures.

The $408,000 total purchase price was decried by City Council member Cas Walker, who said he was unsure if the federal government would come through. "I stay up to date on all developments" with the airports, Walker said at the time, noting his research into the funding and building of McGhee Tyson Airport.

Opposing him and backing the project was City Council member Max Friedman, who noted that, "The Lord is not going to make any more land, but our population has doubled in my lifetime." Friedman, like others in city political circles, saw the airport's proximity to downtown as a lucrative lure to businesses, both local and out of state.

In November 1970, a control tower was approved for the airport. The $200,000 structure opened in 1972. Women air traffic controllers were employed, resulting in a spate of news stories warning pilots not to pay too much attention to the controller's dulcet tones, lest they botch their landing. Both male and female occupants of the tower had a short occupancy, however; by 1981, the tower had been shut down by the Federal Aviation Authority, citing declining usage in the cost-cutting decision. (The action occurred at the same time as the nationwide air traffic controllers strike, after which the tower was never repopulated.)

The administration of the airport changed in 1977, when Mayor Randy Tyree and the City Council created the airport authority. That action led to controversy the next year, when the council chose not to give the authority leases to the airport land. All authority members resigned in protest, and the issue eventually was resolved by giving the authority the control it sought over the airport properties.

The airport authority has the deeds, but is not completely autonomous, Marrison explains. "The authority is a separate governmental entity. Its only dealings with the city comes with the appointment of the Board of Commissioners by the mayor, which are then confirmed by the City Council. There are requirements, though, within the state statutes for municipal airport authorities that set forth the structure of the authority, how it is made up and how the airport is governed."

Since its purchase, the facility has shown itself to be a prudent investment. In late 1964, Southeastern Beechcraft Inc. leased the island, with a sub-lease going to Robert M. Campbell, whose Campbell Aero eventually was purchased by Grater. By 1965, the airport was "the only self-supporting department under general city government," according to a story in the News-Sentinel. A new office building and hangar were dedicated in 1966. By 1967, the city's $600,000 investment in the airport wasmore than paying for itself, according to reports. As predicted, its proximity to the city's financial district was its big draw. A plane was estimated to be landing every two-and-a-half-minutes.

While still busy, the airport isn't generating that kind of revenue any more. It now brings in some $93,000 a year. With grant money, however, for improve- ments and renovations, it has a budget of some $577,000, Marrison says. New construction and other changes should bring that annual figure up.

"We feel like there's the potential for as much as $150,000 a year in income," Marrison says. "We would like to see service at the airport improve, which would increase utilization and revenue."

Adding to the airport's bottom line was the recent addition of the Knox County Sheriff's Department as a tenant. The department's flight division keeps its helicopters there, renting an enclosed, heated hanger for its use.

"The airport is designated by the FAA as a reliever for McGhee Tyson, and that means it is exactly what the word implies. When it takes the small traffic away from McGhee Tyson, it's good for both operators," Marrison says. "We are developing Downtown Island so that it is a facility that functions in that manner and is one that everyone is proud of. We've spent a lot of money developing the airport...it's a never-ending process. We just keep trying to make sure that we have a facility that's doing what it is designed to do."