October 5, 2006

There continues to be fallout from the closing of Bader Municipal Airport in Atlantic City (see previous posts).

You can read my quote in this story from the Associated Press.

Some recent comments to these pages:

Jeff Carter asks:

Why wasn’t this airport on AOPA’s radar screen?

AS: For a while, I’m sure it was. But as far back as 2003 when we produced a video about Bader, AOPA wouldn’t comment on the airport. We had hoped to get an interview or at least a comment from AOPA, but they never responded. When I was briefly employed by AOPA in 2004, I asked about Bader and was told it was a lost cause.

Karen writes:

I’m just curious, where is the closest airport after they close Bader? It seems to me that it is a convenience for high stakes gamblers to be able to fly in quickly with little traffic, with an added sense of superiority not having to deal with the droves of common gamblers shuffling in. It also seems beneficial to the casinos as opposed to allowing another piece of competition to eat into their profits. Did any of the casinos protest it’s closing?

AS: AC International Airport is the commercial airport serving the region. It’s about a forty dollar cab ride to the boardwalk. As far as I know, the casinos wanted Bader closed. They want the land.

Setpember 29, 2006

If you want a final chance to fly into the nation’s first municipal airport- the place where the word “airport” was coined- then you better fire up the piston engine, bring some quarters for the slots, and head to Atlantic City today. At midnight, Bader closes for good.

Atlantic City has been trying to close the field for years amid promises of better uses for the land. Maybe a park. Or a museum. Or some other cultural venue. Nonsense. It will be another casino. City managers have already been quoted as saying Steve Wynn is interested in the historic property.

As previously noted on these pages, the general aviation community could have done a better job of promoting it and the residents turned against the field along time ago.

On the web: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/15616294.htm?source=rss&channel=inquirer_local

-AS

Now it’s all starting to make sense, the usual New Jersey-politcs way. The legendary Atlantic City airport, Bader Field, is set to close officially on September 30 (see posting below). Today’s Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the FBI used the pending development of the airport as a sting operation to nab crocked city workers (crooks in Atlantic City? Come on!) The report says the FBI used a corrupt developer to spread cash around. One member of the AC City Council has already pleaded guilty to accepting bribes.

Some politicos say they want to turn Bader into a park. Hmmm. Pretty sure it’ll be a casino.

Now we now: the fix was in.

-AS