Airport critics would say "so land at Cedar Rapids", which they claim is
just "20 minutes north". (Ha -- maybe in a Ferrari...), of course.

The Cedar Rapids airport is easily within 20 minutes of the Iowa City
airport.

A few challenges of the Iowa City Airport:
Small runways for charter planes (athletics)
Development around the airport- some see an accident into the
Wal-Mart/Menards just waiting to happen. Some recent crashes into
the hill to the north keep this argument going (BTW, I know that
there were reasons for the crashes)
Approach/departure over the city
Approach/Depature over Kinnick Stadium- last year during a game, a
dip**** flew over just to the south of the stadium at low
altitude.
For good measure, he rocked the wings. 70,000 people were quiet
for a few seconds.
Waste of good land- Why in the world do you need three crossing
runways?
Proximity to Cedar Rapids- Cedar Rapids- only about 15-20 min. away
Services at Cedar Rapids- Tower, security, ILS approaches, crossing
large runways, pleny of room for more GA hangars, snow removal,
police, fire, general maintenance, good hangars
Duplication- To the layperson (in fact even to me) it seems to be
close enough to each other that one would do. Iowa city would
not only have no expenses, but Cedar Rapids could become
stronger
Liberals- Iowa City is chuck pack full of liberals that really
don't
care about folks rich enough to be able to fly. Dailey Syndrome.
Medical flights- Most are by copter- doesn't matter
Transplant stuff- 20 minutes to CID no big deal. thats the reason
for the igloo's
FBO's- choice of two in Cedar Rapids (Although you probably would
not count PS Air)
Dollars- Lots of commercial operations to pay the way. Virtually
none in Iowa City.
Lack of potential growth- I do not believe that any two of the
three
runways could ever be expanded.
Opportunity costs- Current use vs. the tax base of developement.
The
newer hangar could have other uses if developed around. Money in
rather than money out looks good. The deal about streets doesn't
hold much water because virtually everybody uses the streets.
Liberals- did I mention all of the liberals?
Cedar Rapids Airport Commision- I think that they squashed the
Marion
Airport expansion a couple of years ago. It is my opinion that
they
will get in your shorts also (I am golfing with one of the
commission
members this week. I will pick his brain)
Plenty of land around the Cedar Rapids Airport- Enough room for a
re-located aviation themed hotel

It is certainly not that I would like to see it closed, they just have
plenty of reasons to close it. I personally feel that it is just a
matter of time.

Good luck,
Jeff