Grand Canyon Airport companies feel unheard over $13 million runway project

The Grand Canyon National Park Airport runway will close for 28 days this summer, sparking concern from local air tour and skydiving companies.

"Every single day dealing with the Grand Canyon Airport is like beating your head against a wall ... you act like you do not want us here," Elijah Riggs said, director of Westwind Aviation.

Riggs started as a pilot for the company in 2009, flying Cessna 207s and Caravans out of Grand Canyon Airport. Westwind could stand to lose hundreds of guests during it's "peak tour season," he said, which accounts for more than half of the company's annual income.

He said Westwind was first approached about the project by the state a year ago. Voicing concerns, alongside other companies who use the runway, about how this would impact Westwind's operation fell on deaf ears, Riggs said.

"They were very polite; very nice. It was also crystal clear that they had already made up their mind," he said.

With the airport shutting down July 14 for a $13 million rehab, Westwind and Paragon Skydive will relocate to H.A. Clark Memorial Field, 48 miles south.

Elijah Riggs/Westwind Aviation Services

Riggs warns this move will also potentially jeopardize travel plans for his customers, especially those who've booked their trips to the canyon years in advance.

Officials in a public hearing about the project and an Arizona Department of Transportation spokesperson said the companies could use privately owned Valle Airport as a replacement, 22 miles to the south.

But Westwind and Paragon Skydive, another business at Grand Canyon Airport, said Valle Airport rejected both their requests. Both companies said they were told by Valle it was for safety reasons.

In a statement to KJZZ, ADOT said it is ultimately up to the operators to find alternate locations during the necessary rehabilitation project. They also said the weather left them with limited options for construction.

“It’s really almost impossible to operate a company out of there. People come and try, and then they always fail," Jason Theuma said, founder and owner of Paragon Skydive.

His company has been at Grand Canyon Airport since 2013. He said three different businesses have tried to start an operation on the runway, but they all failed.

ADOT said it's working with affected businesses on reduced rent for the period in which the runway will be closed, but both companies said they haven't been contacted.

Jason Theuma/Paragon Skydive

"We're going to be losing money the whole time," Theuma said.

The runway rehab is just one of many problems his business has faced with airport officials since it first started on the runway, he said.

In 2017, ADOT, in a response to Paragon’s civil rights complaint, substantiated allegations from Paragon of discrimination based on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and other civil rights concerns.

Allegations from Paragon included discriminatory fees and rules, outside influence delaying operations and bullying and threatening behavior from the, now, former airport manager.

Paragon currently has an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit against ADOT and others in connection to the claims ADOT substantiated through an internal investigation in 2017.

Back at the first meeting with the project team, companies asked if construction on the runway could be done in phases that would allow their operations to still continue on certain parts of the runway.

ADOT said it approached the Federal Aviation Administration with a request to use the taxiway, but the FAA denied the request due to safety concerns.

In a statement to KJZZ, an FAA spokesperson said no formal request was submitted and "ADOT chose to close the runway in an abundance of caution."

The FAA spokesperson also said no major runway rehab or reconstruction has been funded by the FAA at the airport in the past decade.

Pre-construction work is slated to begin June 15 with nighttime closures. The full runway shutdown will begin July 14.