Thursday, October 1, 2026
Olympia Regional Airport’s portion of the business that deals with real estate properties helped keep it profitable in the first half of 2026.
Port of Olympia Director of Operations Warren Hendrickson delivered an update on non-aviation segments to the Port Commission at a meeting on Aug. 3.
Hendrickson’s report covered the financial performance of the airport’s three business segments: Aeronautical Operations, New Market Industrial Campus (NMIC), which includes 550 acres of real estate adjacent to the airport, and Cleanwater Center, a commercial complex north of the airport on Tumwater Boulevard.
Aeronautical Operations generated $652,986 in the first half of the year through a mix of revenue from land lease, hangar and office rental, fuel flowage and landing fees.
NMIC was the highest revenue generator among the three, delivering $916,784 from land lease, office and space rent.
Cleanwater Center brought in $219,004 from land lease, office and space rent.
Accounting for all three businesses, the airport generated $1,758,278 in revenue with $660,691 in expenses before general and administrative (G&A) costs and depreciation.
Director of Enterprise Services Brent Barnes said G&A covers administrative overhead, such as software licenses, building rents, utilities, insurance and administrative salaries. Depreciation is the cost of capital investments spread out over their useful life.
With G&A and depreciation, expenses totaled $1,655,267, which drove net profit down to $103,011 in the first half of the year.
Hendrickson said another way of viewing the airport’s finances is that the port’s non-aviation segments were able to pay for the port’s G&A and depreciation.
“That is a huge fact. Airports that don't have the industrial park facilities that we have are upside down,” Hendrickson said.
“Given the limitations on development and growth, with the habitat conservation plan not being in place, we are still producing sufficient revenue from the existing leases and facility leases to go ahead and cover G&A and depreciation.”
A habitat conservation plan would allow for the development of areas where species listed under the Endangered Species Act are located.
In coordination with the City of Tumwater, the port has been working to get an approved habitat conservation plan from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Hendrickson said other challenges include revenue being sensitive to vacancy rates and tenant turnover. Revenue growth rate is also a concern as it is lagging behind the increasing rate of operating and maintenance costs.
Overall however, Hendrickson said revenue is on track, while expenses are expected to be under budget for the rest of the year.
Revenue so far sits at half of the total projected amount for the year, while the expenses are below one-third of the budgeted costs, largely because maintenance activities are seasonal.
“Based on these numbers, our revenue is exactly where we thought it would be and is expected to remain consistent throughout the remainder of the year. Our operating expenses are expected to be under budget for the year thus far,” he said.
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Oly1956
We’re lucky the land next to the airport helps offset the costs. Critics will comment and say the airport is unprofitable, but it’s clear by the financials that over the last two years, it has more than broken even. It’s too bad that talking point won’t work anymore. Even after depreciation, the airport is in the black, something critics have repeatedly stated incorrectly.
Tuesday, August 18 Report this
RondaLarsonKramer
Warren Hendrickson’s comments point to another important non-aviation revenue opportunity: **preserving the remaining airport prairie as revenue-producing wildlife habitat.**
Conservation does not mean taking valuable land out of economic use. The Port can retain ownership of the prairie while deriving economic value from its permanent protection through mechanisms such as mitigation agreements, mitigation credits, conservation easements, and partnerships with agencies or organizations that pay for habitat protection and management. High-quality habitat for the endangered Olympia Mazama pocket gopher is scarce, which gives protected airport prairie potentially substantial economic value.
Hendrickson reports that the airport is already covering its G&A and depreciation despite current limitations on development. Rather than destroying an increasingly rare habitat to create another industrial revenue source, the Port should capitalize on an asset it already owns: one of the most important remaining expanses of South Puget Sound prairie.
Tuesday, August 18 Report this
Person of Interest
I believe the Port has and will be a good steward of the prairie required for the Mazama Pocket Gophers.
What I would like to see is financials in comparison to other Regional Airports like Chehalis-Centralia, Vancouver etc to put these numbers in better context. The idea that you can sustain a business like this on $250,000 a year most of which is not derived from airport business is concerning. This is very skinny and subject to disruption by outside factors not under the Ports control, If you compare operations airport to airport we may find where we really stand.
Wednesday, August 19 Report this