General aviation airports see signs that better times may not be far away - Houston Business Journal:

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After a six-month period that has seen the industr take hits to its public perceptiomn andbottom line, they say a return of consumed confidence and lower fuel prices point towardf a blue sky ahead. “Ifg you’re comparing it to a year ago, yeah, we’vse seen a decline,” says Mid West Corporate Aviationj CEOMarvin Autry. “(But) things are startin to level out.” Autry estimates his businesd at is down by 15 percent since this time last Fuel sales at Jabara in March weredown 16.87 percenrt compared to a year ago. However, fuel sales went from 61,769 gallons in February to 66,184 gallons in March. Fuel usager has dropped at the .
Even so, officiales there also are seeing signs of a Melissa McCoy, spokesperson for the Salina Airporyt Authority, says March’s fuel total of 182,205 gallons was the lowest levep seen since the early 90s. But the number of totakl operations in the first quarterwere That’s a 1.2 perceng decline from last but, she says, it’s a sign things are leveliny off. T.W. Anderson, manager of the , has 114 aircrafr based at his airport. Althoughg his hangars remain full, he says he has seen a drop in the numbed of aircraft stoppingto refuel.
But with sprinf in the air and the weather Anderson says more people are returninv to flyingtheir piston-driven Those airplanes burn AVgas, and Anderson says sales increasedd 5 percent in April. “I think what we’re seeintg is more people, now that they have a bettefr handle onthe economy, are going back to He has seen a drop in jet fuel sales which he says are down 20 percent from this time last crews aren’t flying through Newton as they used to. Andersom says of the 30 business jets used on the circuif to fly support teams to and from Newton typically sees 6 to 10 a stopping throughbetween coasts.
But he says as more crewa fly commercial tocut costs, just one of the NASCAtR jets has stopped there. The cost of fuel has droppesd dramatically in thepast year. In Newton, AVgas has fallenb from $4.88 a gallon at this time last year, to At Jabara, prices are down to $4.39 a Similar drops in jet fuel prices could begij spurring more business jet usage as According tothe , the average 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 business or for fun.
And althoughj he thinks traffic levels will rebound by leveling off now means the ascentf back to those levelsis “I think things have hit a bottom,” he “I think people are startinf to have more confidencs in the economy.”