Email   Print   Share By Heather Graham-Ashley, Sentinel News Editor

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Ilona Crommentuijn talks with Don Christian at the Greater Killeen Regional Airport during a visit and tour of the facility. Crommentuijn was at the airport during a visit to the U.S. from the Netherlands July 10 as part of the State Department-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program. Heather Graham-Ashley, Sentinel News Editor

Ilone Crommentuijn, general counsel for Schiphol Group, Aviation International in the the Netherlands, receives a briefing about the joint-use functions at the Greater Killeen Regional Airport and Robert Gray Army Airfield July 10. Crommentuijn was in Killeen to learn about joint civilian and military aviation facilities and relationships. Heather Graham-Ashley, Sentinel News Editor

Officials from the Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport shared best practices in joint military and civilian aviation operations with an aviation representative from the Netherlands during a recent visit.

Ilona Crommentuijn, general counsel for Schiphol Group, Aviation International in the Netherlands, was in Central Texas July 9-10 to view and learn about aviation operations in the U.S.

“It’s nice to see so much reshaping of aviation is going on in Texas,” she said. “I am getting a feeling for how it works and get to hear the U.S. position.”

Schiphol Group owns several airports in the Netherlands, including the nation’s largest, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

Crommentuijn’s visit in the U.S. began at Austin-Bergstrom Airport in Austin and ended with the trip to Killeen. She was here under the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, which is designed to foster ctizen-to-citizen diplomacy for emerging leaders, according to the program’s information.

During her time at the Killeen airport, officials from both sides of the jetway, civilian and military, defined the joint-use relationship and the benefits of the partnership.

“I think joint-use benefits both parties,” Don Christian, former director of aviation, said. “We realized working together is the best way to make it happen.”

Killeen officials explained the history of the airport and how the joint-partnership evolved from an idea almost 20 years ago into the successful facility that handles commercial, military and unmanned aircraft today.

“We have a good relationship with the military,” John Sutton, director of aviation for Killeen, said. “Long ago, we developed a trust between us. That has a lot to do with who is running the two entities.”

At the airport, the military and commercial sides each have their own facilities but share jetways and airfield responsibilities.

The system in place in Killeen stands in contrast to Crommentuijn’s experiences in the Netherlands.

“This is totally different than in Europe,” she said.

European airports do not receive the funding from the government that U.S. hubs do, and 75 percent of the airspace in Europe is owned by the military, and the Dutch airports see about 50 million emplanements a year, she added. Killeen sees about 76,000, Sutton said.

Space overall is at a premium in the Netherlands, one of the most densely populated nations in the world.

“They are restructuring European airspace now.”

Crommentuijn told the Fort Hood and Killeen officials. “With 25 percent for civilian use, we have to optimize the use of the space.”

A glaring difference between the U.S. and European structures is the combined use of the airport.

At Killeen, the majority of the traffic is military, Sutton said.

“In Holland, there is not that much of a connection between the military and civilian airports,” Crommentuijn said.

With all of the differences, Crommentuijn said she enjoyed the opportunity to see the joint-use facility and learn about how they make it work to benefit both civilian and military interests.

“I got a good overview of the experience of collaboration here between civilian and military aviation,” she said.