by Shirl Boyce, Idaho Business Review
08/28/2006
This edition of the Boise Business Barometer is being dedicated to the aviation industry and its importance to a healthy, growing economy. As the reader will see in the article to follow, the Boise Valley has well-developed aviation facilities to service its citizens and businesses.
It will also be shown that on the one hand aviation services are an important element in our transportation infrastructure. On the other hand, aviation provides tremendous potential for establishing new industry clusters that have heretofore not existed in the Boise Valley.
In today’s world, access to aviation services is a critical element in any region’s economy. These services include scheduled air passengers or passengers and freight over regular routes. They also include transporting cargo without passengers over scheduled routes. Additionally, there are non-scheduled chartered passenger air transportation and nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation.
What is not common knowledge is that the Boise Valley has significant potential to develop a significant aerospace industry cluster (a “cluster” is a group of different but related businesses, often in close proximity to each other). Most recently, Mission Aviation Fellowship has moved its headquarters from California to the Nampa Airport. Its “mission” is to fly supplies and missionaries to remote regions of the world. Not only are they modifying aircraft for this purpose, they are training pilots here as well.
The Boise Airport has been and continues to be considered as a site for significant aircraft maintenance facilities, manufacturing of airplane equipment and parts.
The Boise Metro Area has been known as the most remote metro area in the country. Now we are being seen more and more as a “central location” for markets in the Northwest and Mountain States.
More specifically, the Boise Valley is being viewed as a potential site for distribution centers for air cargo as well as truck cargo.
A cornerstone for increases in air cargo is the Boise Airport’s new control tower, which is slowly being funded through piecemeal federal appropriations.
Another piece is the runway currently being used for training C-130 transport crews at the south end of the airport. When it is finally turned over to the airport, Boise will be one of the few inland airports with three 10,000-feet runways.
Caldwell and Nampa both have airports that service the private and charters aircraft. Mountain Home Air Force Base is also a part of the aviation mix in our metro area. All of these elements then provide the footings and foundation for what could likely become a significant new industry cluster in the Boise Valley.
Shirl Boyce is the vice president of economic development services for the Boise Valley Economic Partnership, a division of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce.
No comments:
Post a Comment