Naples Airport move study finds 4 possible sites

Reporter: Michelle Alvarez
Published: Updated:
Naples Airport

The future of flying is up in the air.

“Moving an airport is not an easy task,” said Robin King, with the Naples Airport Authority.

There’s a study looking at the possibility of moving the Naples Airport.

“It would take a lot of time, a lot of resources. The soonest that they could look at a new airport, according to the consultant’s study, would be the year 2040,” added King.

King said this is only a discussion, and it’s in the very early stages. They’re not officially moving, but they are looking for possible land.

“As far as the next steps, it’s really up to our board of commissioners,” she added. “We’re going to do the study presentations; we’re going to get feedback from the community; we’re going to talk to our county leaders and our city leaders. And we’re going to go from there to see what the consensus may be.”

Option A is east of the county landfill; Option B is at Lipmans Farms right off U.S. 41; Option C is right off Oil Well Road near Ave Maria; the other option is to move it to the Immokalee Airport.

“Maybe I wouldn’t even be here. It doesn’t affect me,” added Maryellen Pelosky, who lives near the current Naples Airport.

“There are other projects that I think have more priority than that around here,” she said.

An environmental science consultant met with some of the landowners and came up with a list of four sites that could serve a general airport, and possibly one with commercial flights.

“I think what’s important for everyone to remember is that as we move forward with this study, the consultants were not asked to determine if the airport should move,” said King. “That is for the authorities to determine right now the consultant study is only to determine if there’s space available in the county.”

“The move could cost anywhere from $1.2 to 1.6 billion, and the money could come from a general airport revenue bond or through an airport sponsor like Naples or Collier County.

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