Ya Wanna Land? That'll Be $20!

ANN has received a number of complaints in the last few days describing the "exorbitant" new landing fees enacted by the Catalina Conservancy that controls the once popular Catalina Airport.

The airport, which has been a popular "100 Dollar Hamburger" destination (there is a restaurant near the airport with pretty good '$120' burgers...), is located in the center of the Island, at 1602 feet elevation. It hosts a single 3250 foot runway and is managed by The Catalina Island Conservancy.

Built in 1946, the airport was constructed to improve access to the island, which was formerly accessible only by boats and amphibious aircraft. The runway was constructed by blowing up two local mountains and using "200,000 truckloads of rock to fill the gap between them."

Landing fees were never much of a bargain... the basic landing fee used to be $10 for a plane carrying one individual, $10 for a plane carrying 2 passengers, and $15 for a plane load of 3 or more. There was also a $5 overnight tie-down charge, payable each evening. Now, though, the fee is $20... which an airport staffer refused to admit was a fee increase but "a change to a flat fee structure" though he admitted that it did constitute a lot more cost to the average planeload, which the airport said "averages three people."

The new fees went into effect, with little apparent notice, a few days ago (Happy New Year!) on January 1st...

One ANN Reader shared the following complaint (made to the Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau), "Catalina Island has seen the last of me and my flying friends. We routinely fly three to five aircraft to Catalina from John Wayne. However, with a 100% increase in the landing fee to $20, we're more likely to pick another destination. Pilots are not rich as many would like to believe. Fuel, tie downs, insurance, maintenance, etc.all add up. The additional $20 is an expense that makes Catalina an uneconomical destination. The Conservancy should have thought twice about socking it to the pilots that pay thousands of dollars every year to land at the airport with nothing expected in return other than a rutted old broken runway."

In response, the Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau's Gwen Bronson admitted that, "It does seem kind of steep."

FMI: www.Visitcatalina.org, www.catalina.com/conservancy.html