Bellingham airport expecting lots of Olympic business

Bellingham, Wash., February 1, 2010 - Bellingham's airport is outside of the aviation security zone that blankets the Olympic Winter Games and, because of that, the airport is anticipating big business from private jets and charters.

"They can land at Bellingham and drive across the border," says Vanessa Nielsen with Bellingham Aviation Service. Nielsen's company provides parking, fuel and other services needed by private planes and corporate jets. 35 reservations for space are in and the phones keep ringing.

"We have corporate executives that are interested. We have a few athletes. We don't know much about the people who are coming. We just mostly talk to the dispatchers," said Nielsen.

Bellingham has leveraged its position near the border to grow business at its airport. For years, the airport that fought to hang on to scheduled air service is now growing, increasingly connected to the outside world. Allegiant, Alaska and Horizon airlines all operate multiple flights on most days, particularly the summer.

Airport manager Dan Zenk says more than half of those taking airline flights drive down from British Columbia and hop on in Bellingham. Now, with the Olympics close by, the opposite is the case. The airport is handling the planes and the people are jumping onto ground transportation and heading north.

But Bellingham isn't the only airport hoping to get a boost in business from the Olympics. Sea-Tac isn't expecting much, but it had one Olympic flight arrive Monday. At Paine Field in Everett, there's one Olympic reservation so far and Terry Wilcoxson with Castle &Cooke says he plans to send out e-mails this week to more than 1,000 potential customers advising that space is available for parking planes.

Things could get busier as the games draw closer. Meanwhile, Canadian airports are dealing with Olympic flying challenges on their own. Vancouver International is closing a lesser used runway to park planes, presumed to be larger chargers carrying entire teams. But smaller airports, like Boundary Bay, tell Canada's Global television that their business is not what they had hoped because of the security requirements for general aviation. This after Boundary Bay just finished building a new $5 million dollar terminal.

Source: by Glenn Farley, King 5 News