This story is being repeated everywhere. As one of my GA colleagues who builds and operates hangars at reliever airports said, “Pretty soon there will be no reliever airports and we’ll all fly into the Class B main airports since they’ll all be overpriced and the congestion screams will be loud and long as a 90 kt airplanes fly in trail with 135 kt airbuses.”
The only GA airports we will see will be those we build ourselves.
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Not many, for sure, but one is planned here near Savannah, GA, as Gulfstream has taken over much of the GA land for large hangars at KSAV. Wright Army Airfield/Midcoast Regional (KLHW), 30 minutes away, also plans to expand with more hangars and ramp space. They added 12 T-hangars a couple years ago that were immediately leased. It takes good airport management to get things done as the county is not interested in dealing with it.
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I agree that GA is dying and my fear is that there is nothing we can do about it. I’m approaching 70 and I’ll probably be able to continue to fly for as long as I can stay healthy and afford it (two unknown factors at this point), but I doubt that my children or almost certainly my grandchildren will have the same privileges I had.
GA is still viewed mainly as a lifestyle of the rich by the general population… at least where I live. My flying students have dwindled to the point where I mostly give flight reviews, a few discovery flights, and some transition training. I currently have no primary students. The reason(s)? Mostly it’s the time and money expense.
Quadcopters? No thank you. At least in a rotorcraft if you lose an engine you have a fighting chance through autorotation. A quadcopter has 4x the possibility of an in-flight rotor failure. Then what? It’s a nice idea, but I’m not buying it… and I’m guessing there was some sarcasm in the above post.
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Agreed, Tina Kinsey and airport authority must have a short memory span. Demolishing hangars will have ‘detrimental effects’ on genl aviation activity. Next natural disaster like Helene, they may regret decision to snub/reduce genl aviation … in western NC.
I was involved with the post Helene relief effort. For the most part, GA was not allowed into AVL and was pushed out to the smaller airports, away from AVL.
And to you as well… happy flying in 2025! And I’m often fooled (or perhaps I’m a fool? I’ll have to ask my wife…). 
[While the original article has “Asheville” spelled correctly now, in the “companion discussion topic” (to which further comments are referred) it is still misspelled in both the head and text.]
But who cares? I’ve been based 170nm away for the last 30 years and have never landed at AVL. They have always been known as one of the most GA-unfriendly airports in the state (and that includes CLT). Fuel and fees are the primary reasons, but Signature FBOs are at many other airports in NC. None of them have the GA-unfriendly rep that AVL does, so one must assume it’s something in the culture (Authority?) there. If I had an engine-out near there, there’s a nice, straight, Interstate that runs right along-side it.
This is not surprising to anyone who knows the region. Asheville is the most popular fly in location for mountain home vacation tourism. And more so to the wealthy buying up property in western NC and building mountain home retreats. Follow the money as always.
I have a friend who is professional photographer in a nearby town and he’s constantly busy with the owners wanting his photo business for advertisement as rentals. It reminds me of Aspen actually.
We used to have many more GA airports, but as the urban area expanded into the suburbs and housing expanded around it all, the NIMBYs drove them out of existence.
“It doesn’t have any detrimental effects,” BS!!!
Government airports are for IFR aircraft. Time that the Legacy GA Pilot figures that out. The FAA does’t grant money to GA airports to support Cherokees and Skyhawks infrastructure. The FAA pay for things like heavy aircraft runways/taxiways and IFR Approaches.
Airparks and private runways are for General Aviation. +40 years ago the Aviation community saw this coming and when it happens everyone seems surprised… Really?
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@KlausM With respect, I beg to differ. I use a Skylane for business and fly IFR frequently as do many of my colleagues up to 300 hours a year. I fly VFR when I can on 600 nm legs. Each time I load fuel I am paying for those airports and each time I send my quarterlies into the government a part of that money goes to maintain those airports.
Take a very close look at and read FAA AC 150/5190-6 which describes the limitations on exclusive rights as you are suggesting. Especially look at §1.1 of the AC, Obligations against granting exclusive rights.
Sometimes, I fly into air carrier airports and sometimes I fly into remote rural (no fuel or services) airports. The FAA pays for nothing. Taxpayers pay for everything and taxpayers benefit for what they pay for, or they should not be paying for it. 40+ years ago, there was a private airpark in the DFW area way on the outskirts. As Dallas grew around it, they were forced out. They relocated further out and continuously bought land surrounding over the past 30 years so now they are surrounded by horse farms and open space which will not be for sale.
The airports are no more exclusive to IFR traffic than the interstates are exclusive to heavy truck transport traffic.
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When I stated that the FAA “Grants Money” to airports I meant that the FAA takes all that money you have paid in taxes and allocates it for airport improvements. Those airport improvements are not taking anything away from the public’s use of the airports. The regulations protect everyone’s right to use government financed airports. It’s just that the Grant Money is rarely if ever used to improve taxiways to hangars and light aircraft GA conveniences.
FAA funded airports are more likely to allow the removal of many 45 foot door size hangars and ramp tie-down space to allow corporate and commercial builds. If the airport you store your aircraft does not have runway/taxiways that facilitate jet size aircraft it will see very little of the FAA Grant Money.
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Gulfstream IS GA. It may not be the type of General Aviation that everyone wants but it fits in that category.
While S.E. Texas in and around Houston has lost dozens of airports over the years, there is a new one-Houston Executive Airport. It’s pretty far west of town but it’s there and well done, from what I’ve seen.
I hated to see so many get sold off/gobbled up by the greedy developers and the willing municipalities.
Ouch. This continues to happen. Hangar space is hard to come by at many “General Aviation” airports–all of the airports within driving distance of my home have long waiting lists. I am aware of a regional airport (no scheduled airline service) that is abandoning plans to build “T-hangars” and instead build larger hangers for the business jets. I can only dream about living at an airpark!
There is still federal funding for any airport that is at least partially owned by a municipality, as long as that municipality us willing to partially fund improvements. The problem is with the greedy developers who don’t care anything about the local people or the area other than the money they will get by selling or leasing properties. They pressure the towns for permits.
This is a terrible situation. I began my flying at AVL. I have split my training between AVL and GMU. There is only one aviation school in Western NC and its located at AVL. They do not rent to the public or to their students. They are expensive and still add a fuel surcharge on top of the plane fee. Other options for flight training is an hour away in Greenville or Spartanburg SC. As an aspiring CFII and ATP pilot, my training options and employment opportunities are scarce here. I luckily got accepted into the only flying club in the area. Fellow pilots have reported their hanger rentals fee has gone up again. Our club hanger lease will be increasing significantly causing our dues and rental fees to increase. Members will leave. Soon our hangars will be knocked down. In the end, GA will be forced and priced out. The club will close. My contacts at Signature surmise that Signature will not be footing the bill to build GA hangers as its their opinion that Signature does not care or cater to GA. Leaving it up to private entities to build the hangers sometime in the “future” sounds bleak. Hangers will become even more scarce and very expensive. We students and GA pilots have no options in WNC. OA7 just down the road is poorly managed and dilapidated. Its hangars are falling apart an most are used to store more beat up RVs and boats than airplanes. The airplanes that are there aren’t airworthy. Looks like its time to sell the house and move.
Klaus, there are at least two local airports, non-air carrier 4000’ runways that have received AIP grant funds for hangar construction, taxiway rehabilitation and ramp expansions. This is in a predominantly rural area served by GA only and no likelihood of ever having significant commercial services. I served on the airport commissions. Proportionately, you are correct, though, the amount of AIP funds is much lower, because the costs of building and maintaining airports that support light aircraft are much lower than reinforced 6500’ runways and large corporate hangars. I don’t have a problem with this as RNAV approaches are present at many of these airports and they provide what I need for both business and personal aviation.
What I do have a problem with is being forced/priced out of airports such as Asheville as they are part of the National Airspace System. If they do not wish to participate, or be restricted only for their favored ones, ie G500s or Part 121, then they should forego public funding and pay for it themselves. But, if they take one dime of AIP money, their grant assurances require and should continue to require reasonable access for the services we need. They can charge for the luxuries we might like, and we can decide if the price they charge makes it worth using them.