The Town Council met on June 2 to receive an update from Rhode Island Airport Corporation on proposed changes to the Block Island State Airport as part of RIAC’s General Aviation Strategic Business Plan. RIAC is responsible for all six state airports in Rhode Island, including T.F. Green Airport (PVD) as well as the five smaller general aviation airports in Quonset, Newport, Westerly, Smithfield, and Block Island.In general, RIAC’s position is that the five smaller airports are not financially self-sufficient, requiring large annual subsidies from the revenue generated by T.F. Green. As such, part of the stated purpose of the General Aviation Strategic Business Plan is to bring each of the five smaller airports into financial self-sufficiency.
At the meeting, RIAC’s Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President Brian Schattle spent a good deal of time discussing all the revenue streams RIAC misses out on by operating in the State of Rhode Island as opposed to operating in neighboring states. These missing revenue streams were mentioned at least six different times by Schattle and the other RIAC representatives during the meeting. Apparently, in other states like Connecticut and Massachusetts, aviators pay a state aviation fuel tax that Rhode
