Georgetown Executive Airport manager focused on safety, expansion

“If an aircraft breaks down at the airport, they can get all the services they need from somebody on the airfield through a business on the airfield to get that aircraft flying safely again,” Sommerfeld said.

Airport services include a fixed base operator, maintenance facilities, seven repair facilities, seven flight schools and six companies specializing in aircraft sales, according to the city’s website. Fuel sales, rentals and leases allow the airport to be self-supporting, Georgetown Communications Manager Keith Hutchinson said in an email to Community Impact.

In 2006, an airport tower was constructed on-site to allow air traffic control specialists to manage take off and landings. The staff is funded through the Federal Aviation Administration, Hutchinson said in an email.

The FAA defines the Georgetown Executive Airport as a general aviation airport, meaning it sees mostly private operations, Sommerfeld said. While cargo operations or commercial services aren’t typical, corporate aviation, medical flights, medevacs and air ambulances are.

Doctors who are based at the airport can fly to a clinic when needed, and since the airport is always open, departure and arrival times are flexible, Sommerfeld said.

Many aircraft owners operating out of Georgetown Executive Airport can hop on a flight for convenience or business, Sommerfeld said. Flight times are aircraft-specific—a smaller plane might reach Dallas in a couple hours, whereas a jet could arrive in 40 minutes, he said.

“Some people just have their own airplane just to fly for fun, as a hobby, and there's nothing wrong with that,” Sommerfeld said. “I'll admit it's fun to fly.”

On average, the airport gets about 10,000-11,000 operations, or takeoffs and landings, per month, Sommerfeld said. The airport has seen a 92% increase in operations in the last decade, according to a report shared by Sommerfeld.

Also of note

Private flights aren’t the only air traffic the airport gets. The Georgetown Executive Airport has seven flight schools according to the city’s website, which include:

• Aeroguard Flight Training Academy
• Awesome Aviation
• Genesis Aero Flight Academy
• IFR Flight Training School
• Lima Romeo Aviation
• Pilot’s Choice Aviation
• Veracity Aviation

Many flight schools at the airport partner with airlines to get pilots through their program and into an airline as fast as possible, Sommerfeld said.

Put in perspective

With the Austin and Georgetown area home to several popular events throughout the year such as Formula One, South by Southwest and Two Step Inn, part of Sommerfeld’s job is maintaining a safe environment.

He and the airport’s 11 staff members do daily inspections and ensure aircraft are scheduled for maintenance, he said.

“You rely on a lot of different individuals to make that happen,” Sommerfeld said.

With a hangar waitlist of 10 years, Sommerfeld is focused on future development at the airport.

“The airport has a lot of green space, and if that green space isn't being used, you're not capitalizing on the financials to keep an airport healthy,” Sommerfeld said.

A project that involves building new hangars will begin in early 2025 and looks to alleviate the roughly 400 members on the hangar waitlist, Sommerfeld said. In the next two years, he said there could be quite a bit of construction on hangar builds.

“This airport has built one hangar in the last 16 years,” Sommerfeld said. “I think we're changing that, and we’re going to see a lot of ... good and cool projects coming up in the next year or two.”

With the airport’s strict pavement standards, additional upcoming projects include repaving a runway in the spring and working on an “aggressive” capital improvement plan to tackle other pavement upgrades, he said.