The Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport just had its busiest 12 months on record. Its director says it is doing more with a city contribution that hasn’t grown in more than a decade, and this week it gained a new way to cut costs.
Airport Director Matt Leitner told the Rhinelander Common Council at a Sept. 30 budget workshop that more than 60,000 passengers flew in or out of the airport over the past 12 months. Six days later, the city Plan Commission approved a plan to put paid advertising on the back of a replacement airport sign along U.S. Highway 8. According to the sign company, the arrangement will save the airport $38,600.
“What is the essence of the airport?” Leitner asked council members. “In my opinion, (it’s to) connect people to what’s important in their lives.”
Record ridership
Leitner said the 60,000 figure is roughly equal to the combined populations of Oneida and Vilas counties.
The airport tracks ticket buyers’ ZIP codes for air service marketing. Leitner said private jets now arrive regularly from the Hamptons, the Los Angeles area, Texas and Florida, many carrying families with children headed to Northwoods summer camps.
Leitner grew up in Rhinelander. He pumped gas at Rhinelander Flying Service as a teenager and soloed on his 16th birthday. He is a licensed pilot, mechanic and flight instructor.
“Back then, if we saw a jet, it was a big deal,” he said. “Now we see them all the time.”
United Airlines returned this year with seasonal service to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport from May to September. Leitner said those flights were about 85% full, as were Delta Air Lines flights to Minneapolis. He said he expects United’s service to continue and grow. Growth is limited for now because the Federal Aviation Administration has stepped in to curb the number of flights airlines may schedule at O’Hare.
Fares a sore point
Council member Gerald Anderson asked whether the airport could do anything to make Rhinelander less expensive to fly into. Anderson said the city is the priciest destination in the area. Leitner said the airport has little leverage. Ticket prices are set by airline pricing algorithms based on supply and demand, he said. The only charges the airport controls are its fees for airline space, which he said are negligible to the carriers.
He compared his role to that of a mall manager whose anchor store sets its own prices.
“Delta’s position” is to charge what the market will bear, Leitner said. He explained that the nearest other Delta market is Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, until travelers reach Marquette, Mich. Northwoods visitors pay the fares to get as close as possible to their destinations, he said. Leitner said more competition from United would help, but United is capped at O’Hare.
The airport’s 2027 request from the city is $197,081, the same amount it has been for at least 12 years, Leitner said. He estimated that inflation has eroded the contribution to the equivalent of roughly $280,000 in today’s dollars. The city and Oneida County co-own the airport and contribute equally, Leitner said. The airport’s proposed 2027 budget totals about $1.7 million.
Council member Luke Kramer questioned a $90,000 miscellaneous line item. Kramer noted that only about $13,000 had been spent in the first six months of the year. Leitner said winter spending accounts for most of the line: plow cutting edges, liquid and solid deicer, and repairs to equipment from the prior season. He said a single tire for one of the airport’s loaders costs about $6,000.
“It’s not a slush fund,” Leitner said. “It’s kind of a catch-all that isn’t covered specifically in the other line items.”
$30 million in improvements
Leitner said the airport has completed about $30 million in capital projects since 2018. Roughly 95% of the cost was covered by federal funds, he said.
A westward terminal expansion is underway. The city’s September inspection report lists the project at 3375 Airport Road as permitted and “moving along.” An airfield remarking project is also planned, and Leitner said the airport has $14 million in capital projects slated over the next five years.
He also credited a partnership with ArtStart, which brings five regional art exhibits to the terminal each year. A 2019 state study estimated the airport’s annual economic impact on the region at $40 million. Leitner said the figure is likely $50 million to $60 million today. He cited Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce figures putting Oneida County tourism at $500 million a year, and he estimated the county’s total economic output at about $2.3 billion. He also said employers weighing relocation consider airport access as heavily as highway access.
Ads to help pay for new sign
On Oct. 6, the Plan Commission approved a special exception to the city’s ban on new off-premises advertising signs. The exception allows Jones Outdoor, a De Pere sign company, to replace the airport’s aging Highway 8 sign and sell advertising on its reverse side.
The approval carries a condition that the airport commission, whose members represent both the city and the county, must approve every ad before it goes up.
Mayor Kris Hanus, who chairs the commission, called the advertising “smart” as a way to generate revenue “versus just looking to the government bodies to subsidize them.” He also questioned whether political or “hot-topic” messages belong on government-owned land.
Interim city administrator Adam Gitter raised a possible free-speech issue. He cited a court case involving a church and a car dealership that limited a government’s ability to regulate the content of signs. Zoning Administrator Malinda Lim said the issue “might apply” and offered to delay the item a month to consult the city attorney.
Jason Safian of Jones Outdoor said the company hoped to install the sign before frost. He said it routinely writes content restrictions into ad contracts. Angela Frey, the airport’s assistant director, said the airport had already told Jones it would need to approve any ad.
“We maintain a very political-free airport,” she said.
Commissioner Bob Lueder moved to approve the exception with the airport commission approval condition. “The last thing we want to do is put a ‘Fly CWA’ sign at the Rhinelander Airport,” Lueder said, an apparent reference to the competing Mosinee airport. The motion passed on a roll-call vote.
The new sign will stay in the same location and keep the existing sign’s dimensions: two 24-foot-wide, 8-foot-tall panels. It will be turned parallel to Highway 8, with the airport’s message facing one direction and two ad panels facing the other. Jones already owns two billboards on the parcel, which predate the city’s 2021 ban on new off-premises advertising.
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