Existing Conditions at Deer Valley Airport

Airport background 

The Deer Valley Airport is a public transport system based in Arizona. The airport is situated north of the city of Phoenix, in Maricopa County. The Phoenix Deer Valley Airport is owned the Phoenix city. Studies reveal that this airport was ranked the 25 th busiest airport with respect to aircraft movements in the world in 2010. Phoenix airport had recorded 368, 747 aircraft movements (Federal Aviation Administration, 2010). The airport also holds the record for being the busiest regular airport in the world. Therefore, this shows that the airport serves a huge number of people in the United States as well as the entire world. According to the Integrated Airport Systems (2009-2013), Deer Valley Airport is referred to as a reliever airport for the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). 

Existing Airport Facilities 

The land occupied by the Deer Valley Airport is around 914 acres with an elevation of more than 400 meters. Therefore, this huge land is covered with plenty of facilities that support the day to day operations of the airport. The airport has to two asphalt runaways that support all the major aircraft movements. The first one is 8196 by 100 feet while the second on runs 4500 by 75 feet (Federal Aviation Administration, 2010). Navigation aids are also available at the Deer Valley Airport to ensure maximum safety to aircraft movements. This airport has a localizer, glider slope, medium intensity approach lighting system and runway alignment indicator lights. These are important as they ensure that lighting does not interfere with normal operations of the airport. The airport has also had a central tower which plans for all the aircraft movement, routes and all other air-related activities. Most of the activities are managed in this area. 

The airport has three types of hangars which include t-hangars, box hangars and shade hangars. Deer Valley Airport has more than ten shade hangers because they are cost-effective compared to the rest. These hangers are responsible for 240 aircraft packing positions at the airport. With respect to t-hangers, the airport has 58 of them which accommodate more than 760 parking options for aircrafts. Finally, the airport boasts of 11 box hangers which mostly deal with business jets. Therefore, it has been noted that t-hangers is the most demanded hangars in this airport with its number rising significantly more than shade and box hangers (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). Deer Valley Airport has noted more than 375,000 operations annually thus making it one of the busiest airports in the world (Federal Aviation Administration, 2010) 

There is also some space for parking facilities of vehicles assessing Deer Valley Airport. Support buildings within this airport consist of police air support unit, aircraft rescue and firefighting, fuel storage and other utilities (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). These are important support elements which perform important and emergency functions within Deer Valley Airport. As the traffic continues to rise, these supporting facilities are bound to expand in order to mitigate potential risks. Deer Valley Airport also holds two flights schools which include Westwind School of Aeronautics and TransPac Aviation Academy (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). These large flight schools conduct their training and practical at this airport which brings students from various areas of the world. 

Socioeconomic Trends 

The population growth in Arizona is almost hitting 7 million people as forecasted by the U.S. Census Bureau. This ranks Arizona as the 14 th nation in the national population (Dewey, 2012). However, states such as Florida, Texas and Colorado have been growing faster than Arizona. This state’s population has been growing at a considerable rate and attracting more immigrants. Arizona and Phoenix have been relying on population growth in order to develop transport, retail, construction, restaurant, among other sectors. This has prompted Phoenix City to ask for more funds from the Federal Reserve based on its population in order to fuel further development (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). 

Table 1 shows data on the history of population in Phoenix City, Arizona and the United States. Phoenix’s population has been growing steadily since 1990 and had more than 4 million individuals. Similarly, the population growth of Arizona has been growing at a fast pace and is estimated to reach 7 million this year (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). The population growth in Phoenix and Arizona has been influenced by increasing investments and job opportunities. Therefore a lot of people have migrated to this state in search for better economic opportunities. However, increasing population has been linked to the loss of jobs as the opportunities become more limited and could also lead to congestion of the city. 

Year	Phoenix MSA	Arizona	U.S.	Phoenix MSA % of U.S.
1990	2,249,116	3,684,097	249,622,814	0.90%
1991	2,319,206	3,788,576	252,980,941	0.92%
1992	2,398,760	3,915,740	256,514,224	0.94%
1993	2,491,818	4,065,440	259,918,588	0.96%
1994	2,613,502	4,245,089	263,125,821	0.99%
1995	2,744,046	4,432,499	266,278,393	1.03%
1996	2,855,711	4,586,940	269,394,284	1.06%
1997	2,963,714	4,736,990	272,646,925	1.09%
1998	3,074,532	4,883,342	275,854,104	1.11%
1999	3,178,349	5,023,823	279,040,168	1.14%
2000	3,273,477	5,160,586	282,162,411	1.16%
2001	3,363,736	5,273,477	284,968,955	1.18%
2002	3,452,470	5,396,255	287,625,193	1.20%
2003	3,536,388	5,510,364	290,107,933	1.22%
2004	3,637,332	5,652,404	292,805,298	1.24%
2005	3,774,696	5,839,077	295,516,599	1.28%
2006	3,914,212	6,029,141	298,379,912	1.31%
2007	4,018,128	6,167,681	301,231,207	1.33%
2008	4,106,372	6,280,362	304,093,966	1.35%
2009	4,153,609	6,343,154	306,771,529	1.35%
2010	4,209,375	6,410,810	309,326,225	1.36%
2011	4,252,078	6,467,315	311,587,816	1.36%
2012	4,329,534	6,553,255	313,914,040	1.38%

Table 1 Historical population (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015) 

Research shows that Arizona’s per capita income is at $36,654 thus being ranked 29 th in the United States. The per capita income for Phoenix City is at $38,436. Phoenix has been performing well than the average household income of the state and slightly lower than the national average which is at $ 44,231. Hence, Phoenix has become one of the fastest growing city in Arizona with lucrative economic and job opportunities. Such factors have increased the confidence of individuals to migrate to this city. 

Year	Phoenix MSA	Arizona	U.S.	Phoenix % of U.S.
1990	29,263	26,718	30,768	95.1%
1991	28,816	26,556	30,504	94.5%
1992	28,844	26,635	31,190	92.5%
1993	28,994	26,878	31,288	92.7%
1994	30,047	27,784	31,957	94.0%
1995	30,802	28,313	32,663	94.3%
1996	31,747	29,090	33,603	94.5%
1997	32,922	30,045	34,671	95.0%
1998	34,867	31,816	36,560	95.4%
1999	35,574	32,494	37,451	95.0%
2000	37,342	33,910	39,102	95.5%
2001	37,587	34,431	39,887	94.2%
2002	37,459	34,437	39,700	94.4%
2003	37,711	34,834	40,003	94.3%
2004	38,947	36,124	40,994	95.0%
2005	40,505	37,672	41,704	97.1%
2006	42,463	39,405	43,151	98.4%
2007	42,337	39,598	43,949	96.3%
2008	40,353	38,327	43,793	92.1%
2009	38,012	36,421	42,195	90.1%
2010	37,318	35,824	42,358	88.1%
2011	38,287	36,509	43,568	87.9%
2012	38,436	36,654	44,231	86.9%

Table 2 Historical Per Capita Personal Income (2013 Dollars) (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015) 

Personal income is a great indicator for socioeconomics with regards to inequality and disparity. This is important in avoiding threats or risks that could influence an economy in the long term especially in the markets. Furthermore, personal income is closely related to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In Phoenix and Arizona, personal income plays a huge role in pointing out key economic issues such as pressures facing inflation, consumer spending, the performance of the markets and the entire economy (Dewey, 2012). In table 3, the data shows the personal income for Phoenix, Arizona and US for the past two decades. It is important to understand the trend of socioeconomics of the service area of Deer Valley Airport for the purpose of future investment. 

Since 1990, Phoenix’s income has been increasing significantly revealing a conducive and developing economic environment in this city. The city has also managed to maintain an annual growth of 4.3% which is above the national average (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). The annual growth rate for the United States is 2.7% since 1990. However, it is important to note that the U.S. is a large nation with a lot of internal and external challenges and risks influencing its economy. Arizona’s income has been rising similar to Phoenix with an annual growth rate of 4.1%. This reveals that the entire State of Arizona including Phoenix City has been performing impressively as its rates are almost twice the national average. Dewey (2012) points out that high rate of personal income reveals that the state has a high spending rate among consumers which is vital for developing future business. These rates have also attracted lots of investors thus increasing the personal income as more jobs are created. 

Year	Phoenix MSA	Arizona	U.S.	Phoenix % of U.S.
1990	65,816,330	98,430,612	7,680,448,156	0.86%
1991	66,830,961	100,610,921	7,716,983,527	0.87%
1992	69,190,438	104,295,943	8,000,700,520	0.86%
1993	72,248,737	109,271,789	8,132,337,248	0.89%
1994	78,528,185	117,945,560	8,408,587,994	0.93%
1995	84,521,495	125,497,337	8,697,448,810	0.97%
1996	90,660,969	133,433,319	9,052,500,036	1.00%
1997	97,571,555	142,323,045	9,452,995,707	1.03%
1998	107,198,288	155,370,080	10,085,158,352	1.06%
1999	113,067,410	163,242,220	10,450,336,023	1.08%
2000	122,239,206	174,995,273	11,033,191,991	1.11%
2001	126,432,950	181,572,741	11,366,666,598	1.11%
2002	129,327,633	185,828,669	11,418,651,546	1.13%
2003	133,360,097	191,946,957	11,605,278,971	1.15%
2004	141,661,932	204,188,107	12,003,394,286	1.18%
2005	152,893,627	219,971,132	12,324,205,511	1.24%
2006	166,209,607	237,577,885	12,875,499,077	1.29%
2007	170,117,208	244,227,661	13,238,798,126	1.28%
2008	165,705,097	240,706,080	13,317,045,638	1.24%
2009	157,888,328	231,023,125	12,944,254,510	1.22%
2010	157,085,037	229,660,523	13,102,341,509	1.20%
2011	162,797,289	236,118,193	13,575,127,633	1.20%
2012	166,410,844	240,203,472	13,884,602,668	1.20%
Average Annual Growth Rate
1990-2012	4.3%	4.1%	2.7%	1.5%

Table 3 Historical Personal Income (thousands of 2013 Dollars) (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015) 

As discussed above, personal income is a vital aspect of socioeconomics. It mainly revolves around salaries, wages, profits, rents or any form of cash flow received by an individual. These cash flows which are not dependent on employment will include trusts, royalties, dividends, interests, retirement pensions, social security, and employee compensation, among many others (Dewey, 2012). Most importantly, employment is the huge contributor to personal income as most people are employed in the workforce. The impressive results of personal income in table 3 indicate that employment rates in Arizona and Phoenix are booming. The table below shows data on the history of employment in Phoenix, Arizona and U.S. since 1990 to 2012. Phoenix employment rates have been growing significantly over the years thus influencing the rates of personal income in the city as well as the state. 

After the financial recession of 2008-2009, jobs have been decreasing not only in Phoenix but also Arizona and U.S. interestingly, starting from 2011 heading to 2012, these areas had a slight improvement on the level of jobs. The recession had a big role in influencing the rates of jobs which were soaring to huge numbers. It will be very crucial for these areas to develop shock measures against threats such as the recession in order to have minimal impacts on the economy. Similar to personal income, Phoenix City and Arizona witnesses an annual growth rate of 2.4% and 2.3% respectively (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). This shows a slight difference between these two areas revealing that the state has been playing a big role in job creation. The Phoenix Deer Valley Airport reports that the national annual growth rate was 0.9% far way behind the State of Arizona and Phoenix City (2015). The socioeconomic trend in these two areas has been improving considerably thus influencing other factors such as increased population, level of education and investment. 

Year	Phoenix MSA	Arizona	U.S.	Phoenix MSA % of U.S.
1990	1,111,191	1,692,440	109,527,000	1.01%
1991	1,112,977	1,714,176	108,427,000	1.03%
1992	1,129,117	1,753,007	108,802,000	1.04%
1993	1,181,491	1,837,980	110,935,000	1.07%
1994	1,273,891	1,977,860	114,398,000	1.11%
1995	1,362,438	2,096,332	117,407,000	1.16%
1996	1,421,233	2,148,895	119,836,000	1.19%
1997	1,465,750	2,201,211	122,951,000	1.19%
1998	1,534,521	2,282,731	126,157,000	1.22%
1999	1,591,133	2,359,801	129,240,000	1.23%
2000	1,609,059	2,410,247	132,019,000	1.22%
2001	1,648,750	2,467,782	132,074,000	1.25%
2002	1,687,138	2,510,972	130,628,000	1.29%
2003	1,727,856	2,565,469	130,318,000	1.33%
2004	1,783,726	2,642,021	131,749,000	1.35%
2005	1,847,545	2,725,659	134,005,000	1.38%
2006	1,930,609	2,835,935	136,398,000	1.42%
2007	1,975,503	2,898,787	137,936,000	1.43%
2008	1,976,979	2,911,887	137,170,000	1.44%
2009	1,900,253	2,822,763	131,233,000	1.45%
2010	1,875,333	2,781,504	130,275,000	1.44%
2011	1,870,535	2,761,199	131,842,000	1.42%
2012	1,889,202	2,773,831	134,104,000	1.41%
Average Annual Growth Rate
1990-2012	2.4%	2.3%	0.9%	1.5%

Table 4 Historical employment (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015) 

Unemployment is also a socioeconomic aspect that has influenced the State of Arizona and Phoenix City. To a greater extent, the increasing job opportunities and personal income have played a great role in influencing the rates of unemployment. This is because American citizens living in other states are attracted by jobs and personal income. This is at the core of capitalism. Therefore, a huge influx of individuals has been flocking Arizona and specifically, Phoenix. The increasing job opportunities have been limited by the increasing number of candidates. Therefore, those with higher education qualifications have been nailing almost all of the jobs in this state. This is evident as shown in Table 5 which compares the history of unemployment in Phoenix, Arizona and (U.S. Arizona and Phoenix have experienced an annual growth rate of 2.1% and 2.3% in that order (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). On a positive note, since 2010, Phoenix, Arizona and U.S. have been reducing significantly as a result of measures taken by the Federal and State governments to stimulate the economy. According to Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, the national annual growth of unemployment by 2012 was at 1.7% (2015). 

Year	Phoenix MSA	Arizona	U.S.	Phoenix MSA % of U.S.
1990	4.4	5.2	5.6	78.3%
1991	5.0	5.9	6.9	73.0%
1992	6.4	7.4	7.5	85.4%
1993	5.1	6.3	6.9	73.8%
1994	4.6	6.1	6.1	75.4%
1995	3.6	5.4	5.6	64.4%
1996	3.7	5.5	5.4	68.4%
1997	3.0	4.6	4.9	60.7%
1998	2.9	4.3	4.5	64.4%
1999	3.1	4.5	4.2	73.5%
2000	3.3	4.1	4.0	83.2%
2001	4.2	4.7	4.7	88.6%
2002	5.6	6.0	5.8	96.8%
2003	5.2	5.7	6.0	86.8%
2004	4.5	5.0	5.5	81.2%
2005	4.1	4.7	5.1	80.7%
2006	3.6	4.1	4.6	78.1%
2007	3.2	3.7	4.6	69.3%
2008	5.3	6.0	5.8	91.4%
2009	9.2	9.8	9.3	99.1%
2010	9.7	10.4	9.6	100.8%
2011	8.5	9.4	8.9	95.1%
2012	7.3	8.3	8.1	90.4%
Average Annual Growth Rate
1990- 2012	2.3%	2.1%	1.7%	0.7%

Table 5 Historical unemployment rate (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015) 

The table below shows the comparison between Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and the United States with respect to population growth and employment. Florida is performing better than Arizona, California, Nevada and United States. This reveals that it is one of the fastest developing states in the nation due to an increased population which fuels the development of important sectors such as transport (Dewey, 2012). 

Figure 1 (Dewey, 2012) 

Historical aviation activity 

The history of Deer Valley Airport has been influenced by many factors over the years. This is because it is the busiest airport in the United States. Therefore, issues such as competition, economy, and fuel costs, among others have influenced its aviation activity (Federal Aviation Administration, 2010). The table below reveals the history of aircraft activities at DVA for the past 23 years. General aviation activities have been improving gradually while military activities have been reducing significantly. 

Year	Itinerant Air Carrier	Itinerant Air Taxi	Itinerant General Aviation	Itinerant Military	Itinerant Total	Local Civil	Local Military	Local Total	Total Operations
1990	5	1,933	103,836	631	106,405	171,079	342	171,421	277,826
1991	2	993	99,735	554	101,284	159,394	391	159,785	261,069
1992	-	3,545	98,693	759	102,997	117,619	236	117,855	220,852
1993	30	7,313	99,570	1,034	107,947	103,122	95	103,217	211,164
1994	-	5,905	101,113	680	107,698	104,322	81	104,403	212,101
1995	-	3,675	105,144	563	109,382	106,313	33	106,346	215,728
1996	-	3,539	119,135	515	123,189	127,297	237	127,534	250,723
1997	-	4,598	121,701	237	126,536	140,234	62	140,296	266,832
1998	1	4,782	129,248	208	134,239	147,008	151	147,159	281,398
1999	3	6,385	135,646	478	142,512	144,829	165	144,994	287,506
2000	-	6,783	164,979	610	172,372	198,331	76	198,407	370,779
2001	-	5,869	147,799	343	154,011	185,966	93	186,059	340,070
2002	-	4,990	166,777	55	171,822	217,730	18	217,748	389,570
2003	-	4,153	152,934	55	157,142	232,155	12	232,167	389,309
2004	-	4,079	137,550	44	141,673	198,759	5	198,764	340,437
2005	-	4,584	146,136	51	150,771	226,325	745	227,070	377,841
2006	-	5,216	150,111	52	155,379	251,107	21	251,128	406,507
2007	21	5,676	135,527	11	141,235	236,472	642	237,114	378,349
2008	284	6,217	133,150	40	139,691	236,853	90	236,943	376,634
2009	-	3,804	149,934	11	153,749	248,586	-	248,586	402,335
2010	-	2,973	135,651	389	139,013	229,732	2	229,734	368,747
2011	1	3,832	124,086	89	128,008	189,276	159	189,435	317,443
2012	159	4,690	139,389	54	144,292	221,110	30	221,140	365,432
2013	17	4,518	135,772	56	140,363	214,601	31	214,632	354,995

Table 6 Historical Aircraft Operations at DVT (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015) 

Off-airport land use and transportation network 

The land which is immediately close to DVT is specified as an industrial area for manufacturing firms. To the south of the airport, there is a lot of residential and less commercial centres. On the west side of the airport, the land is mixed with commercial spaces, industrial, public as well as parking spaces. The north of the Happy Valley Road is mainly residential with plenty of parking spaces. The East, on Cave Creek Road, land is mainly industrial with notable residential spaces (Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, 2015). A lot of the land close to DVA has been proposed to be industrial and commercial and limit residential development. 

Current Airport Issues 

Recently last year, a plane with two people slightly crashed in the runway while landing. Reports reveal that the aircraft did not land with the landing gear (Abc.com, 2016). This instance blocked the runway thus forcing planes to use the other runway. There were two people on the plane who did not sustain injuries. This year, a similar incident occurred where a plane leaving the airport crashed. However, very few details were revealed concerning the crash. These issues have questioned a lot about the management of the airport especially with the monitoring of small planes. Such incidences could taint the influential image of Deer Valley Airport. 

References 

Abc.com. (2016). Official: plane makes hard landing at Deer Valley Airport . Retrieved Online, November 11, 2017, www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/north-phoenix/official-plane-makes-hard-landing-at-deer-valley-airport 

Dewey, J.F. (2012). Florida’s long-term economic trajectory emerging after the great recession . Retrieved Online, November 11, 2017, www.bebr.ufl.edu/economics/website-article/florida’s-long-term-economic-trajectory-emerging-great-recession 

Federal Aviation Administration. (2010). FAA airport master record for DVT . Retrieved Online, November 11, 2017, www.gcr1.com/5010web/airport.cfm?Site=DVT 

Phoenix Deer Valley Airport. (2015). Phoenix Deer Valley Airport Master Plan Update . HNTB.