County tried to get Port interested before

The story of how Boeing Field got started is a lot like the story of how some sports stadiums get built.

King County voters in 1928 authorized $950,000 to build a municipal airport to try to keep William Boeing from moving his airplane factory out of town.

When Boeing Field closed to focus on production of bombers on the eve of World War II, the Port of Seattle started looking for a place to build a civilian airport. The Port chose Bow Lake, now home to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Since then, Boeing Field has focused on small airlines and other aviation. Boeing is still a huge customer of the airport, as are air-cargo firms like UPS and DHL Express, flight schools, helicopter operators and owners of corporate jets.

King County had a hard time paying for its share of airport repairs and improvements after the 2001 Nisqually earthquake damaged the main runway.

In 2003, while looking for a solution to a $24 million budget problem, County Executive Ron Sims asked the Port of Seattle if it wanted to buy the county's 614-acre airport. The idea went nowhere.

"We thought it was worth $150 million," Sims' chief of staff, Kurt Triplett, recalled Wednesday.

The Port's response was: "You pay us to take it off your hands."

Even if the Port had agreed to pay something for the airport, Sims learned of another deal-breaker: The Federal Aviation Administration, which paid the lion's share of aviation-related improvements to the airport, would have claimed any cash proceeds the county received from selling it.

Last year, Southwest Airlines proposed to leave more expensive Sea-Tac Airport and build its own passenger terminal at Boeing Field. Sims initially welcomed the idea, but he later rejected the proposal after protests from neighbors, the Port of Seattle and other airlines using Sea-Tac.

The FAA would have to rule on the latest idea — swapping Boeing Field to the Port of Seattle in exchange for the Port buying a 47-mile BNSF rail corridor between Renton and Snohomish, then giving it to the county.

Triplett says the agency's first, informal response has been encouraging.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com