CHICO — When people just want to get away, they often look to airplanes to help them do it.
City of Chico officials want to make it even easier, right here, to put people into the air — and say re-establishing commercial air service at the Chico Regional Airport is just the way to accomplish that goal.
Airport Manager Tom Bahr spoke enthusiastically about the anticipated return of air service to Chico, connecting it with the Los Angeles area, during a press conference in the airport lobby Saturday afternoon. It was a companion event to Airport Day, which the city hosted jointly with the Chico Air Museum — featuring several types of aircraft, including firefighting, law enforcement, medical and vintage.
Bahr spoke confidently as he described the need for a “revenue guarantee fund” of $1.5 million, of which the city already has $645,000 on hand in cash. The North Valley Community Foundation will manage the account, currently consisting of $500,000 in U.S. Department of Transportation grant money and $125,000 in contributed cash from the city. Explore Butte County, an agency dedicated to promoting tourism in the area, has tossed in $20,000.
Why is such a fund necessary? Bahr said airlines won’t consider a municipality for service unless there’s some proven financial backing in place.
“Yes, two airlines are very interested,” Bahr said, though he wouldn’t reveal the names of the companies. “They need to see community support” by way of a fund that should have at least $1 million. Boosting it by $500,000 gives it greater strength.
The fund needs $875,000 in donations to reach that goal, when combined with a two-year waiver of airport fees — such as gate fees, but other substantial costs — an airline would otherwise need to pay. The city has waived those fees, effectively increasing the fund by $250,000.
‘Connectivity’
City of Chico Public Works director Erik Gustafson, in his opening remarks, said the next six months would be critical to raising this money. It is part of the “Help Chico Fly” campaign, with a web address of helpchicofly.com.
Chico Mayor Andrew Coolidge was also optimistic. “I think Chico is ready to fly. Man, we need commercial air service,” he said. The fundraising campaign “is incredibly important toward capturing an airline.”
Coolidge described the “convenience and connectivity to the L.A. basin” and said the increased travel time to Sacramento doesn’t always make Sacramento International Airport a convenient choice.
Add in the cost of a hotel room and parking fees at SMF and flying out of Chico — while a bit more expensive compared to what a flight would cost at a larger airport — becomes reasonable. Parking at the Chico airport is free.
Bahr said a survey has shown that 700 people from the Chico area fly out of Sacramento per day, and 60% of those people fly to the Los Angeles area.
Making Chico attractive to an airline would also require updates to the parking area and the runway, as well as an expansion of the 1971 terminal, Bahr said. He described the need to be able to hold at least 100 people if an airline flying Boeing 737 planes were to come here.
Aviation event
While city officials were speaking, informational displays were going up on the cordoned-off tarmac for several organizations, both public and non-profit. The Air Force Band of the Golden West began preparing for its scheduled performance while attendees trickled in, admiring aircraft on display.
One such aircraft was a PT-26 Fairchild Cornell single-engine plane, constructed in 1943 and used as a training craft for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Brian Baldridge, past president of the Chico Air Museum, took a reporter up for a 20-minute flight over downtown Chico, to Butte College and then back.
Dozens of families watched with fascination as the plane got ready to take flight.
Baldridge said Charles Mueller, a retired Chico State professor, purchased the plane on the east coast, then spent 15 years reassembling it because he acquired it “in a million pieces,” Baldridge explained.
“He just wanted one. He got it on the east coast and several people helped reassemble it. I helped him assemble it the last couple of years,” Baldridge said with a chuckle, “and that’s why he lets me fly it.”
Baldridge described how the plane is “all wood” — “manufactured by furniture makers during World War II when they needed to make planes quickly,” he said. Women were also part of the manufacturing crews; in fact, someone named Phyllis — who was probably gluing parts in the main spar, Baldridge said — signed her name inside the cockpit 80 years ago.
Chico residents McKayla Shaw and her husband, Justin Shaw, showed Scarlett, their eager 4-year-old daughter, the plane. Scarlett said she was excited to fly one day. “I want to fly it home,” she explained.
Gary Wilson, 3, was looking over a Hiller VHJ-1 helicopter inside the Chico Air Museum hangar — even going so far as sneaking under the surrounding cordon to get a closer look. That wasn’t where his ultimate interest was, however.
“I like the big airplanes,” Gary said, pointing to all the aircraft parked on the tarmac.
Also on display outside were aircraft such as the OV-10 Bronco, an S-2 Tracker and 8AJ, a firefighting aircraft Cal Fire has on contract with Billings Flying Service. That large Chinook helicopter has a tank that can hold 2,650 gallons of water for precision drops during a wildfire.
Unless there is substantial need based on fire activity in the state, the contract with Billings will expire in mid-November.
