Airport on North Whidbey celebrates renovations

Two years and $5 million invested later, renovations at North Whidbey airport are finally wrapping up.

To celebrate its official opening, the DeLaurentis International Airport is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on July 24. Owner and pilot Robert DeLaurentis hopes the event — among others — will showcase the airport’s potential to be a “happening place.”

“We’re trying to do positive things and we’re not motivated by money. We need to make a profit but nobody’s getting rich off this,” he said. “I think it’s great for the island and we’re excited to open up formally.”

When DeLaurentis gave the News-Times a tour of the airport, he stopped to point out a newly installed plaque reading, in gold lettering, “If you’re not afraid … your dream isn’t big enough.”

Asked if he felt scared to buy the airport when he did so in 2023, DeLaurentis paused.

“Yeah, a little bit. I knew I could do it. I didn’t know how hard it was going to be,” he said.

The solo circumnavigator and International Air and Space Hall-of-Famer moved to Whidbey three years ago from San Diego, where he worked in real estate. Despite his passion for aviation, DeLaurentis hesitated to take on as monumental a task as renovating the airport.

“The airport had basically been neglected for a solid 20 years, and it’s been around about 50,” he said. “Nobody wanted it, and I came here and I didn’t want it, ‘cause it was such a disaster.”

Ultimately his desire to purchase it won out, but doing so did not come easily — DeLaurentis had to compete with the Port of Coupeville for the property even after his offer had been accepted in escrow. He hired a law firm out of Seattle to help him eventually secure the airport.

Little on the property remains untouched by renovations. Roofs, siding and electrical were replaced on buildings, lighting and security cameras were installed, trash and leaking fuel tanks disposed of. The property is now also insured.

“The idea is to set the airport up for the next hundred years — is what I say — to get the infrastructure updated, so nobody has to worry about it,” he said.

Out of every project on the to-do list, expanding the runway stood as the biggest. Obtaining a permit from the county to do so was a slow, seven-month process, but the runway more than doubled in width — from 25 to 60 feet — once the repavement was completed. Incoming pilots can now also access a live video feed of the runway to determine if it is acceptable to land.

Larger aircraft can now use it safely, especially important considering Life Flight is one of the airport’s main customers. Individuals can be transported to and from the mainland in approximately 15 minutes this way, DeLaurentis estimated.

“It could save your life in that amount of time,” he added.

DeLaurentis’ not-for-profit, the eponymous DeLaurentis Foundation to which he is the principal donor, covered the costs of the renovation with the help of local and non-local sponsors. Not a “single dollar” was taken from the Port of Coupeville, cities of Oak Harbor and Coupeville, county, state or the federal government, according to DeLaurentis.

Some local pilots, the flight school Cascade Aviation and an independent flight instructor are some of the airport’s current tenants. International flights are infrequent and DeLaurentis is still looking for a charter company to rent out to — he has met with Kenmore Air — but the sky is the limit for what the airport has to offer.

Events coming up on the docket are a car show on July 19, which is expected to draw 1,000 attendees according to DeLaurentis, and potentially a parachuting event in August. He also expressed interest in using the hangar as a music venue.

Hosting aviation research and manufacturing on the property is another idea DeLaurentis likes the sound of.

“It’s basically an open canvas, and we have all the infrastructure to support” whatever endeavors take place, DeLaurentis explained. He hopes some of the other 14,000 privately-owned airports in the U.S. will follow suit.

“We’re trying to create a blueprint so that those private airports will become public like us,” he said.