airport/documents/Mesquite Master Plan Final.pdf - The City of ...

In determining the aviation demand for
an airport, it is necessary to identify the
role of that airport. The primary role of
Mesquite Metro Airport is to serve the
needs of general aviation operators in
the region. General aviation is a term
used to describe a diverse range of
aviation activities which includes all
segments of the aviation industry
except commercial air carriers and the
military. This includes recreational
flying in single-engine aircraft, up to
corporate business jets.
In addition, Mesquite Metro Airport is
a designated reliever airport. In this
capacity, Mesquite Metro Airport
should be maintained to accommodate
all general aviation aircraft, such as
business jets, to minimize congestion at
commercial service airports. TxDOT
also further identifies Mesquite Metro
Airport as a Transport airport. This
designation makes the airport eligible
for improvements to accommodate
larger general aviation business jets.
Exhibit 2A depicts the primary service
area for Mesquite Metro Airport as
derived from the analysis of the billing
records of those aircraft owners that
base at the airport. The largest
concentration of based aircraft owners
reside (home or business) in the east
side of the City of Dallas. A large
number are also from the City of
Mesquite. Interestingly, the larger
concentrations of aircraft owners lie
near immediate highway access,
particularly along I-635, I-30 and I-20.
The service area also extends very near
competing Lancaster, Dallas Executive
and Addison airports. Three of the
based aircraft owners reside in the
Rockwall area.
2-7
Often a general aviation airport may
also have an identifiable secondary
service area. Typically, this area would
extend beyond the primary service area
in order to fill in gaps of service
between airports. A secondary service
area has been identified for Mesquite
Metro Airport. This area essentially
creates a crescent around the east side
of the primary service area. Aircraft
owners in the secondary service area
are typically closer to another airport,
but due to a lack of facilities may
instead choose to base at Mesquite
Metro Airport.
AIRPORT USER SURVEY
In order to obtain a profile of local
general aviation users and their
preferences, an airport user survey was
conducted. The survey was sent to all
registered aircraft owners living
roughly within a 20-mile radius, as
identified by FAA records. This area
approximates the previously defined
airport service area. A total of 626
surveys were mailed, 113 responses
were received (18.1 percent response
rate), and 46 respondents indicated that
they base at least one aircraft at
Mesquite Metro Airport, as presented in
Table 2B.
Thirteen of the 46 respondents that
base at Mesquite indicated that they
were contemplating the acquisition of at
least one additional aircraft within the
next five years. Responses indicated
that each user conducts an average of
12 operations per month, with local
training operations averaging 10
percent of those operations. The