Last Mile in General Aviation—Courtesy Vehicles and Other Forms of Ground Transportation (2020)

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59 Key Findings General aviation airports across the country provide last mile ground transportation in a variety of ways depending on many factors including local conditions, size of community, need, climate, availability of community resources, and airport service structure. Many airports can be constrained because of limitations beyond their control from these factors but still may have found innovative ways to connect their users to the community that they serve. The research indicates that airport owners and service providers have utilized a variety of means to meet the ground transportation requirements of their users, which in turn provides an economic impact benefiting the airport, community, and users of small airports. An analysis of the data has led to several key findings, including: • General aviation airports benefit from ground transportation alternatives available that are provided internally or externally through public or commercial modes of ground transportation. – Providing ground transportation alternatives at a small airport is perceived as an impor- tant component of providing service for users and allows the public facility to operate as expected by providing access to the community that it serves. – Courtesy vehicles are a common mode of ground transportation at general aviation airports. – Availability of ground transportation alternatives at an airport provides an economic benefit for the airport and the community that it serves. – The availability of ground transportation at a small airport provides a competitive advan- tage over airports that have no alternatives and increases utilization of small airports, including encouraging patrons to fuel aircraft and utilize ancillary services. • Modes of ground transportation providing connectivity for small airports include: – Courtesy vehicles. – Car rentals. – Shuttle or limousine service. – Public transit. – TNCs—Uber, Lyft. – Taxi service. – Private business–provided transportation. – Bicycles. • Small airports can benefit by leveraging assistance from their local government, sponsors, and other stakeholders, both internal and external, in developing ground transportation alternatives. C H A P T E R 6 Conclusions

60 Last Mile in General Aviation—Courtesy Vehicles and Other Forms of Ground Transportation • Educating the public and promoting the importance of the airport is a key strategy to assist with improving ground transportation options. Informing local businesses and governing bodies about ground transportation needs may promote partnering opportunities. • Airport operators are the front face of the community to pilots and community businesses, and airport leaders are key innovators to finding last mile solutions. Solutions identified in the report include: – Working with the governing entity to obtain a courtesy vehicle. – Working with car rental companies to facilitate customer needs. – Working with local businesses or organizations to arrange for transportation. – Working with state aviation organizations to implement transportation programs. – Donation of a courtesy vehicle. – Working with pilot or user groups to fund or provide a courtesy vehicle. • A number of respondents indicated that more formalized courtesy vehicle procedures, policies, and guidelines provide benefits, including: – Mitigates liability and risk exposure. – Clarifies guidelines and limitations of use. – Provides documentation and record of use of courtesy vehicles. – Requires documentation from driver, which verifies terms and conditions of use. – Deters misuse of courtesy vehicle. – Provides consistent procedures and expectations for both users and employees. • Most airports in the study do not utilize formal courtesy vehicle reservation or check-out procedures although airports that do have check-out procedures may benefit from formal procedures as previously listed. • Insuring courtesy vehicles can be done through private commercial standalone policies or through a fleet policy when owned by the airport governing authority. Many fleet or cooperative type coverage can be obtained at a reasonable cost and are administered based on local preferences and requirements. • Courtesy vehicle maintenance depends on the entity that owns and provides the vehicle. Vehicles provided by a governing authority are often times maintained as fleet vehicles and rotated under an overall vehicle replacement schedule. • Airports in the study utilized a variety of marketing venues to promote the availability of courtesy vehicles including a number of published and online sources: – Facility directories. – AirNav website. – Foreflight pilot app. – Airport and community websites. – Word of mouth. The objective of this report was to compile options, practices, and tools for airports to use to develop a sustainable last mile strategy to connect users of general aviation airports to the communities that they serve. A variety of sample tools and resources are included in Appen- dices C through K to assist readers in the development of effective ground transportation planning and procedures at small airports.