New Owner's Representative Says The Airport Will 'Join The 21st Century'

For 75 years, Ed Brown and later his family has owned and operated Monmouth Executive Airport in eastern New Jersey. But all that has changed with the sale of the airport announced Thursday.

The new owners are Wall Aviation LLC, which has been trying to buy the airport for 12 years, according to The Wall Patch. The sales price of the airport is not being disclosed, according to Richard A. Asper, chairman of Florida-based Aviation Professionals Group, a consulting company hired help close the deal.

Asper said that changes at the airport will happen "immediately." He said that "This airport is going to join the 21st Century. This is an airport that deserves to be first class."

Among those changes are a new FBO ... the national chain AvFuel ... effective Friday. But some of the airport's traditional tenants, such as Jersey Shore Skydiving or banner towing operations may not be compatible with the new owner's vision for the airport. “It’s very difficult to convince the pilot of a $30 million airplane to land here when he’s got to look out for people falling out of the sky," Asper said.

Asper said that the banner towing planes which operate out of the airport over the nearby Jersey shore are businesses that the new owner likes, but may not be compatible. He said they will eventually be "ebbed out" and relocated to other airports in the area.

The airport had been home to a number of businesses while it was owned by Ed Brown, some of them not aviation-related. They included a golf driving range, a drive-in/fly-in movie theater, and a bowling alley.

One tenant had manufactured computer circuit boards, and illegally dumped toxic materials on the property. The EPA cleaned has up the property. Brown also reportedly was delinquent on his property taxes.

Ed Brown passed away in 2006, about the time Wall Aviation LLC began to try to buy the airport. It has been operated by his step son, Jack Taylor, for the past 12 years.

FMI: http://www.airnav.com/airport/KBLM