NORWICH – Location, location, location – that’s the ticket Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, is attempting to sell to Chobani executives to entice them to use the Lt. Warren E. Eaton airport in North Norwich.

The Chenango County airport is located just yards from Chobani’s headquarters at Woods Corners in Norwich and less than 20 miles from the Greek yogurt manufacturer’s plant in Columbus. Some private jets carrying Chobani executives and business associates have already landed, purchased fuel and taken off. But Wilcox and members of the Planning & Economic Development Committee would like more consistent traffic, if not ideally, an agreement for Chobani to become the Eaton airport’s next fixed base operator.

Wilcox said he recently began talking to Chobani executives. “I’ve been there a couple of times, but there are no guarantees,” he said.

Gamma Aviation was P&G Pharmaceuticals and the airport’s fixed base operator for more than a decade before finally pulling out in 2009. Airport Administrator Donald MacIntosh said Chenango County added $400,000 to the airport’s operating account during Gamma’s tenure, something that county lawmakers have struggled to make up for with t-hangar rentals, fuel sales and advertising. Maintenance, improvements and regulatory fees are funded via an interest generating account on the airport’s estimated $500,000 trust fund.

Chobani has been using a charter service that flies into Griffiss International Airport in Oneida County because, according to MacIntosh, the Chenango County airport’s GPS coordinates for low visibility and inclement weather landings aren’t up to date. MacIntosh explained that the runway’s landing threshold was moved north, changing the approach coordinates, and the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t conducted flyovers to adjust the numbers yet.