Delivering on a dream

So, he pushes, and he calls, and he asks 1,000 times, and, well, he usually gets what he’s after. And for the town of Oak Harbor, Washington, he got—and the town got—a brand-new airport where there once was a derelict field of neglected dreams.

Who is he?

He describes himself as an “Equatorial and Polar circumnavigator” because he flew aircraft around the world two times, carrying experiments for NASA’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He’s produced a documentary about the flights called Peace Pilot, which is available on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google. He’s written three books about his experiences, and he’s authored a series of children’s books about a globe-trotting airplane named Dash. He served 14 years in the U.S. Navy. He is a real estate rental housing developer in Southern California. His success in California has funded his many projects, all under the umbrella organization he calls the DeLaurentis Foundation, which he started in 2015. “It started with me and a few other dreamers who wanted to give back to aviation. I started by doing lectures, started writing books, and then started to look at doing some flights that I hoped would inspire people and showcase aviation safety and technology,” he said. “I’ve been surprised at how much we can actually accomplish. I had a pretty successful run with my polar circumnavigation; we had 95 sponsors that helped with that effort.” (See “Pole to Pole,” May 2022, AOPA Pilot, Turbine Edition)

DeLaurentis was tiring of the traffic and congestion of Southern California, and a friend and mentor introduced him to the San Juan Islands; he now commutes back and forth from his new home in Oak Harbor to San Diego.

Renovation with an aviation twist

“When I moved to Oak Harbor, I wanted to do something for the community but the first time I came by [the airport] I was sort of put off. It was in really rough shape, and it looked like a huge project. It would take over a year, a lot of money, a lot of challenges. It just wasn’t going to be easy. But it just didn’t leave my mind,” he said. “I had certainly done a lot of flying projects in my life; I thought it would be fun to explore another avenue of aviation. I knew a lot of different airports—I’d traveled to about 53 countries—and I know what worked and doesn’t work. My background is in real estate, mostly renovation. So, this was a renovation project with an aviation twist.”

The 52-acre parcel on Whidbey Island began as Seamount Field in the 1960s. Navy veteran Wes Lupien bought the 2,600-foot grass strip from Bob Seamount in 1965 and it was known as Wes Lupien Airport and the home of Whidbey Flying Service. Harbor Airlines operated from here from 1971 through 2001. Kenmore Air also operated here until 2008. The airport became A.J. Eisenberg Airport in 2009, purchased by a Seattle resident, but he could not maintain the field telling town officials he really didn’t know anything about it, according to the local newspaper. It went up for sale for $2.1 million in 2021 after falling on hard times. DeLaurentis bought it in 2023 for $1 million.

“This airport had been used and neglected for 20 years and people had their rusting cars on the property. Fuel was being taken. They were leaving their garbage and landing and not paying fees. I felt like we had to reestablish, get a little more respect for the airport, and clean it up and change the energy, because it was kind of in a dark place,” DeLaurentis said. “The very first thing we did is got the fuel tanks out of the ground. They were the oldest in the state of Washington. They were 35 years old and people thought they were leaking. So, the second day of ownership, we pulled them out.”

Click on images to read their captions. 

Skin in the game

DeLaurentis wasted no time starting in on his project. Luckily, the tanks were not leaking so that first stroke of good luck was followed by six months of exhausting clean-up and renovation.

“We removed 70 cubic yards of trash, three rusted out vehicles, two trashed airplanes. It [the airport] was really like an old bone nobody wanted until I picked it up. And then the fighting started, and we had a few battles to win before we could take the airport under our control and start making changes,” he said. “Not everybody is open to change. But I think now they have seen how it’s turned out and I think we have a lot of support now.”

Native local pilot Skip Boyer, who took AOPA staff flying out of the airport over Whidbey Island, embraced DeLaurentis’s vision. A paving contractor, he has spearheaded the expansion and widening of the runway, which was completed in late September. “He’s done a lot for our flying community,” Boyer said. “And I’m glad; there’s not much better flying than here in the San Juans.”

For the past year, a team of volunteers has transformed the airport. There are new hangars, new offices, a proposed aviation museum, the expanded and paved new 60-foot-wide runway, and plans to develop an additional 40 acres. “I’ve spoken to the Washington State Department of Transportation, and we talked about an eVTOL hub for urban air mobility aircraft because we are so close to Seattle. We are not here to make money, we are a not for profit, so we are not going to build houses; that’s what I’ve said from the very beginning.

“And then we have tried to make everything safe; that included getting the navigation systems at the airport, working lights, security cameras, runway cameras, hauling the debris away, and changing the feel of the airport.”

He’s been criticized for implementing a landing fee at this privately owned, public-use airport. Using a system called PlanePass, a purpose-built aircraft billing system from Vector Support Systems, DeLaurentis charges a $20 landing fee.

“I think people are used to getting airports for free and that’s mainly because they are funded by the state, the feds, or the FAA. In this case it’s an airport that is privately owned and privately funded. We want to have people come in here and support the airport. And when you consider the cost to renovate an airport that’s 52 acres, $20 is immaterial. It gets people involved; they have skin in the game and they’re contributing to our community rather than taking away.”

Aviation dreams

Leaving San Diego for Oak Harbor after completing his circumnavigation flights and at the height of the pandemic, DeLaurentis said he needed time to reflect.

“I didn’t want my whole life to be the same chapter in San Diego. I wanted a place that had mountains, snow-capped mountains but also the ocean. I liked the idea of an island,” he said. “An island with lots of birds chirping and orca whales and gray whales, and bald eagles. I think the reason why pilots want to fly in this part of the world is because it’s unbelievably beautiful.”

Aviation fuels every dream DeLaurentis has, and he has a lot. He wants to introduce kids to aviation, he thinks pilots are the best people to own and run airports, he believes safety is tantamount, and he wants to contribute to his community.

“The way the airport contributes to a community is that it provides a vital link between aviation and the infrastructure. So, people fly in, rent a hotel, go on vacation,” he said. Additionally, he is concerned with the accessibility to the island. “When someone is injured, they need to get to Seattle fast. LifeFlight flies out of here but because the weather is often bad in the winter, they can’t fly their helicopters. We widened the runway so that we can get turboprops in.”

In February 2024, the airport became DeLaurentis International Airport (OKH). “We decided to take some chances and make this an international airport. It would open us up to Canada and other countries, but it would also put us on the map. It’s a great thing for the community. And since I’ve done so much international flying, I thought it would be so cool.”

DeLaurentis admits there have been more challenges than he anticipated and is disappointed that people often don’t believe in him. “I’m a dreamer, definitely a dreamer. People may call it other things, but things are possible when you surround yourself with love and support. And it’s never a mission of one; it’s a mission of many,” he said. “I’ve delivered on my promises; it’s a safe airport. Everything works and we’re welcoming people who support aviation.”

He has more than 20 industry sponsors whose names and logos are displayed on the hangar entrance to the airport.

“One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about this airport is the people who have come together to work on it. It reminded me that aviation brings people together and airports do the same.” 
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