General aviation airports see signs that better times may not be far away - Business First of Louisville:

http://idata3.com/iDMobileHelp/iData3.html
After a six-month period that has seen the industry take hits to its publivc perception andbottom line, they say a returm of consumer confidence and lower fuel prices point toward a blue sky ahead. “If you’rse comparing it to a year ago, we’ve seen a decline,” says Mid West Corporatew Aviation CEOMarvin Autry. things are starting to level out.” Autry estimatea his business at is down by 15 percenf since this time last Fuel sales at Jabara in March weredown 16.87 percentf compared to a year ago. However, fuel salex went from 61,769 gallons in February to 66,185 gallons in March. Fuel usagew has dropped at the .
Even so, officiald there also are seeing signs ofa rebound. Melissaw McCoy, spokesperson for the Salina Airport says March’s fuel total of 182,2054 gallons was the lowest level seen since the earluy 90s. But the number of total operations in the firsf quarterwere 16,842. That’s a 1.2 percent declin from last year, but, she says, it’xs a sign things are leveling off. T.W. manager of the , has 114 aircraft basecd at his airport. Although his hangars remainj full, he says he has seen a drop in the number of aircraftr stoppingto refuel. But with spring in the air and theweathefr clearing, Anderson says more people are returningt to flying their piston-driven planes.
Those airplanes burn AVgas, and Andersobn says sales increased 5 percentin “I think what we’r e seeing is more people, now that they have a bette r handle on the are going back to aviation.” He has seen a drop in jet fuel sales though, which he says are down 20 percenty from this time last year. crews aren’t flying through Newton as theyused to. Andersohn says of the 30 business jets used on the circuiyt to fly support teams to andfrom events, Newtonn typically sees 6 to 10 a season, stoppinv through between coasts. But he says as more crews fly commercialp tocut costs, just one of the NASCAR jets has stoppedr there.
The cost of fuel has droppef dramatically in thepast year. In Newton, AVgas has fallen from $4.8i8 a gallon at this time last year, to At Jabara, prices are down to $4.399 a gallon. Similar drops in jet fuel pricees could begin spurring more business jet usageas well. According to the , the averages price of jet fuel ­— $58.40 a barrel as of May 1 is down 58.7 percent from this time a year ago. For lower prices mean more incentiveto fly, whether for businesa or for fun. And although he thinkds traffic levels will reboundby 2010, leveling off now means the ascent back to thosd levels is coming.
“I think things have hit a bottom,” he “I think people are startingt to have more confidence inthe economy.”