Bishop - Bishop airport enjoys aviator influx

7-10-2008

With the Mammoth Airport closed for repairs this summer, the Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop is seeing a major increase in plane traffic landing, parking and refueling there.
That’s a good sign for local businesses and residents, as every pilot who makes a stop in Bishop uses services here, including motel rooms, restaurants and more.
“Since the closing of Mammoth for runway repairs (in May) the general aviation air traffic at Bishop has more than doubled and we are seeing four to six charter jets land each day,” said Eastern Sierra Regional Airport Lead Technician Ken Babione.

Fireworks from the Bishop Volunteer Fire Department’s Fourth of July show reflects off of one of nearly 80 aircraft temporarily parked at the Eastern Sierra Regional Airport over the weekend. Since the closure of the Mammoth Airport, the Bishop facility has seen a significant increase in air traffic. Photo by Ken Babione

In fact, the Eastern Sierra Regional Airport was so busy over the Fourth of July weekend that staff there was forced to issue a “Notice to Airmen” indicating that parking at the airport was limited due to the influx of traffic.
“This generated many calls from pilots still wanting to fly in to Bishop and were willing to park just about any place flat so they could be here for the weekend,” Babione said.
With a limited number of tie-down parking spaces for transient traffic, and 79 pilots tieing down in Bishop for the Independence Day holiday, “I told them to bring their own chocks and as long as they didn’t need to be chained down, we could accommodate them,” Babione said. “And come they did. Not even the old timers at the airport could remember ever seeing this many aircraft on the ramp at one time.”
Before the closing of the Mammoth Airport, the Eastern Sierra Regional Airport would see an average of 10-12 planes making stops for fuel or overnight stays, but now staff is handling as many as 30 landings a day.
In addition to the influx of private pilots using the services at the local airport, staff has reported seeing as many as four to six charter jets landing in Bishop each day. “They’re either stopping to drop people off or pick them up,” Babione said. “I’d say most of the folks we had, about 80 percent, fly in just to get to Mammoth.”
But even if those pilots and their passengers are just stopping in Bishop to make their way up to Mammoth Lakes, they are using local facilities to get there, buying and paying for tie-downs.
“I think we will probably see a 50 percent increase in fuel sales in the next month or so,” Babione said, noting that, on paper, the fuel sales may not look exceptionally high compared to last year, but that is due to extra revenue received from the Forest Service while it battled the Inyo Complex Fire in 2007. Last year’s sales were also high due to the Civil Air Patrol’s Bishop-based search for traveler and adventurer Steve Fossett.
“The search and fire added to fuel sales last year, but our fuel sales over the weekend were very good,” Babione said.
“We pass a lot on to the community in the way of hotel and restaurant recommendations. We get a lot of people asking questions about Bishop, and we kind of serve like a branch off the Chamber of Commerce,” Babione said.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which gives flyers the opportunity to rent vehicles at the airport, reported that it, too, is benefiting from the temporary closure of the Mammoth Airport.
“Before it closed we were renting less than five cars every week, now we’re averaging, I’d say, 15-20 per week, mostly on the weekends,” said Enterprise Intern Manager Bryana Kee.
Enterprise moved its entire fleet of vehicles that were stationed at the Mammoth Airport to its Bishop office and the Eastern Sierra Regional Airport to accommodate the increase in air traffic.
Over the holiday weekend, Kee reported that Enterprise rented out more than 20 vehicles, just from the Bishop airport.
Staff at Enterprise reported that they, too, help serve their clientele and the area by promoting local stores, eateries and recreational activities.
“They definitely like Bishop,” Kee said. “Every one of my customers are very happy with Bishop and what it has to offer. They ask where the good fishing spots are, where they can buy fishing stuff, where to go swimming and where to eat.”