Pueblo Tribe Plans to Upgrade Its Airport

Ohkay Owingeh is hoping $3 million in improvements to its airport will set the stage for further economic development.

By making the airport, located behind the Ohkay Casino, into a Class II facility, officials believe more businesses will move into a planned industrial park nearby, said Ron Lovato, head of Tsay Corporation, which handles economic development for the tribe.

If the industrial park is a success, that will make way for a commercial development consisting of shops, restaurants and office space, he added.

This is all part of a long-term plan. "We've been working on these developments for many years," Ohkay Owingeh Gov. Earl Salazar said. "We're viewing the developments as an investment."

Salazar said the development will provide jobs for non-Indians as well as Indians in Northern New Mexico. "A small percentage of individuals working in our casino are Indian. Most of our employees are from the small towns of Northern New Mexico," he said.

Implant Sciences, a developer and manufacturer of products for national security, medicine and industry, plans to build in the industrial park. The pueblo offered the company, which will develop noninvasive explosive detection equipment for the Army, a free five-year lease, he said.

The main attraction was the airport, according to Lovato. Executives can easily fly in to check out the operations and stay at the pueblo-owned hotel, he said.

The pueblo is relying on gambling revenues to pay start-up costs for these ventures. "I cannot stress enough how important gaming has been. Most of the economic development and the start-up is directly from the proceeds from gaming," Lovato said.

Lovato stressed that the projects will provide economic opportunities for all. "When we think of economic development, we don't strictly think the pueblo, the pueblo, the pueblo. We don't plan to own and operate every business venture here," he said.

The Class II airport is designed to serve scheduled operations of small air carrier aircraft and unscheduled operations of large air carrier aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration Web site. Any plane with 30 or fewer seats can land in Ohkay Owingeh; larger planes can land there in an emergency. Class II airports are not permitted to serve scheduled large air carrier operations, according to the Web site.

The airport architectural designs and engineering plans are 90 percent finished, and the pueblo expects the upgrades to be completed in the fall. The improvements to the airport include water, sewer, power and phones lines, aircraft hangars, a road and a fuel pump.

Lovato said he has heard from pilots who say they will increase their use of the airport threefold once they can refuel there. Currently, there are 30 aircraft touchdowns there each month. Traffic consists mostly of business executives, training pilots and air ambulance services.

Making a fuel stop was the only drawback to Ohkay Owingeh, according to Bob Jaeckle, a businessman from Dallas, who flies into the airport about once a month. He prefers it to both Albuquerque and Santa Fe because of its location.

"I've been thinking very strongly, and I have some people coming in with me, to move some production of pet toys close to the airport so I can get to it easily and plan on employing 20 to 60 people," Jaeckle said. "It's amazing what an economic engine an airport is."

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