DeLand Meets Sport Aviation Goals

Florida’s DeLand Municipal Airport (KDED) has accomplished initiatives set out three years ago to create an annual sport aviation showcase, develop a general aviation complex and construct a location for businesses with a recreational aviation focus, DeLand Municipal Airport Sport Aviation Administrator Jana Filip announced at AirVenture. The airport hosted the first DeLand Sport Aviation Showcase (DSAS) at KDED in 2016 and the event has grown each year since, seeing more than 100 exhibitors last year. Focused on recreational and sport aircraft, DSAS highlights include demonstration flights, interactive workshops, educational forums, camping, and pre-owned aircraft sales.

DeLand’s recently completed $6 million GA complex includes a 6,000-square-foot airport management center that provides meeting rooms, a pilots’ lounge, 24-hour pilot locker room and a restaurant. Complex construction also included the rehabilitation and extension of the airport’s south ramp. Further expansion is planned for 2020 with the addition of a fuel farm.

Finally, the airport has also recently finished the infrastructure for the first phase of the three-phase Sport Aviation Village project. Phase 1A is complete, adding six building sites for commercial-use hangers. Bristell, T.O.M.I. and AeroAdventure/WingBug have already been confirmed as tenants for three of the slots. Phase 1B of the Sport Aviation Village, which will add 30 T-hangers and an additional three or four building sites, is scheduled for 2020. The fourth annual DeLand Sport Aviation Showcase will take place Nov. 14-16, 2019.