Originally Posted by
Jonzarno
Aye, but there’s the rub: how do you eventually cash in that investment? Not by selling it as an airfield for sure; and even if you do, you will find it hard to find a buyer that will accept a covenant that it can’t be used for another purpose.
There are several flying clubs that I know that do own their airfields and probably more that I have not had contact with. Golf clubs quite often are owned by the members and no doubt other sports are similar, the situation is quite similar, like aviation, members have cash to spare.
Not only do many pilots have cash to spare they have business experience they know how to make it work, where to get finance and support. So get 50 pilots together to buy a share for say £10 or 20k that is a decent starting money pot, when a member leaves his share is sold another pilot will want to join but no guarantee. Success depends on being a well run airfield and that will not be a cheap shoestring outfit.
We all see development land priced at £1M an acre but by the time all the costs and planning conditions are met sellers get a small part of that, the developers get the real cash windfall, so get together a put a sensible offer if you want to keep your airfield.