How much turbulence would end of corporate jet tax break create in Charlotte’s economy?

Between banks and NASCAR, corporate jets regularly cast their shadows on Charlotte’s landscape.

With 237 private and company planes based at facilities in Mecklenburg County, the impact of such aircraft on the county last year was about $110 million, according to county estimates.

“We have a lot of traffic in jets,” said Richard Lewis, director of Concord Regional Airport. “We have them for race teams, and we have some 737 jets that can carry up to 200 passengers.”

So it should come as no surprise that Charlotte is keeping its eye on Washington, D.C., to see whether a proposal to scale back a tax break for corporate jet owners — but not commercial airlines — will fly.

As President Barack Obama‘s administration and Congress wrangle over what to do about the country’s debt and whether to raise the debt ceiling, Obama has called for changing the way businesses deduct the cost of buying aircraft from their taxable income. Obama wants companies that own jets to spread the deduction over seven years instead of the five years allowed under current law.

Lewis said if planes flew away from the field as a result of the tax break changing, it would be a blow to the economy and the county’s tax base.

“If they move they can have a big impact,” he said. “In North Carolina the airplanes are taxed, and that goes to the city and the county. It would be missed.”

Each aircraft based in Mecklenburg County is taxed annually at a rate of 83 cents per $100 of value, the same rate at which county real estate is taxed.

With values ranging from the $5 million Saab 2000 turboprop to the $50 million G5 private jet, the tax revenue for the jets in the county ranged from $41,500 for a typical Saab 2000 to $415,000 for a G5 in fiscal 2010.

Eric Anderson, assistant assessor in Meckleburg County’s assessor’s office, said the county collected $3.6 million in taxes on aircraft last year, while the city of Charlotte collected $1.96 million.

Corporate jets fuel Charlotte’s economy in more ways than taxes.

With 185 planes based at CRA, secondary businesses flock to the field and the area around it.

“We have a number of different businesses out there that handle many services for the corporate jets and aviation industry,” Lewis said. “The sale of fuel and the hangar space rental is all done exclusively by the city of Concord, but the other services attract other businesses.”

One of those businesses is Spitfire Aviation, which handles maintenance for all jets based at CRA. There are more than 30 aircraft available for charter flights at CRA and five flight schools also work near the Concord field.

The impact of private planes isn’t limited to the northern part of the county. In the southern part, Charlotte Douglas/International Airport buzzes with private-aircraft activity at Wilson Air Center-CLT, which is operated by Wilson Air Center.

The Charlotte center is 50 acres and has 250,000 square feet of heated hangar space that can be rented to aircraft owners.

Wilson has managed the airport’s private and corporate aircraft since February 2005, Charlotte/Douglas spokesman Lee Davis said. The company’s services include parking, fueling, catering, rental cars, freight handling and airline charter services, he said.

The center is home to 52 individual and corporate aircraft owners that base their planes in the county, including five Fortune 500 companies: Nucor Corp., Sonic Automotive, Family Dollar Stores, Goodrich Corp. and SPX Corp.

Two other Fortune 500 companies in Charlotte, Bank of America Corp. and Duke Energy Corp., also base planes in the county but have private facilities on Charlotte/Douglas’ property. BofA’s and Duke’s aircraft is housed at bases with their own self-contained operations near Wilson’s center.

According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the general aviation industry employs 1.2 million people and generates $150 billion in economic activity a year worldwide.

CRA, meanwhile, employs 37 people full time and nine part time.

The Great Recession has hurt the general aviation industry, which in turn has hurt CRA.

“We have one full-time position that is frozen,” Lewis said. “And we have four part-time positions frozen in a hiring freeze. They will probably remain that way at least until next year if not longer.”

The city of Concord unfroze one position at CRA this year, and it has been filled, he said.

Lewis said that, contrary to opinions that it’s a sleepy airport, CRA is in almost constant use, with more than 60,000 flights last year.

“We’re not a small facility,” he said. “We have significant traffic.”

Lewis, who began working at CRA 11 years ago, has been director for nine years.

“The growth (at CRA) hasn’t really been in the number of private planes that are based here, but in the mix of different models of planes,” he said. “About eight years ago, a race team would lease five planes to take people around. Now they lease one 737. The type of aircraft has changed, and the concern over fuel cost has greatly increased.”

One of the more popular models used by corporations at CRA is the SAAB 2000 turboprop passenger airliner, he said. Rather than jet engines, the plane has two more traditional propeller engines and has better fuel economy than some jets. It can carry 50 passengers.

“There are only eight (Saab 2000) planes in this country and five of them are based in Concord,” he said. “A lot of companies use those instead of the jets, because it is a little cheaper. Some race companies use those to move their teams around now instead of jets.”

While the future of CRA is unknown as elected officials ponder what to do about the tax break, Lewis acknowledged that planes moving away is a possibility at any time, regardless of what happens in Washington.

“All of our planes can move because they’ve got wings,” he said.

Scott Baughman can be reached at [email protected].