(Photo courtesy of Glendale)

Jets sit on the tarmac at Glendale Municipal Airport. City officials say airport traffic could increase as much as 38 percent from last year.

Traffic at the Glendale Municipal Airport could increase by as much as 38 percent from last year as a lack of congestion compared to other Phoenix-area airports is helping attract more business.

There were about 65,000 takeoffs and landings in Glendale last year, according to airport officials, and that number could reach 90,000 for 2015.

Glendale’s status as one of the Valley’s lesser used reliever airports is helping draw aviators to its single runway, said airport administrator Kenneth Potts. This combined with grant money for resurfacing, hangar sales and land available for constructing custom buildings to house jets make him believe the facility is on the rise.

“You can get in and out of this airport quickly,” Potts said. “And for businesses time is money. If they go to other airports, you know, they’d be number five or number six in line to take off or they’d have to wait to land.”

Glendale’s airport does not make money. But former airport administrator Walter Fix said that could change if more hangars sell and expenses, aided by a recent drop in insurance costs, continue to decrease. 

Fix has stayed on to help Potts, who took over as administrator about two months ago, transition into a new job.