CHAMPAIGN — The search is on for a new governance structure for Willard Airport in Savoy.

The airport has been owned and operated by the University of Illinois since 1946, when the UI established the Institute of Aviation there.

Now, with the university's blessing, the Champaign County Economic Development Corp. plans to commission a study of what forms of governance are used at other airports — and which might be practical for Willard.

The economic development group on Thursday agreed to allocate up to $15,000 for the study, which would examine the costs and benefits of various governance structures.

Separately, the university plans to commission a separate "leakage" study to determine how much business Willard is losing to other airports — and why. The UI would foot the bill for that study.

Bruce Walden, a UI administrator whose responsibilities include the airport, said it's "very unusual" for a university to own and operate a commercial airport.

"Frankly, operating an airport is not a core proficiency" for the university, he said.

"Certainly, it's not a familiar structure to the airlines when we deal with them," he said. "They're not familiar with how universities do business and how long it takes to get things done."

The UI hopes the study "might lead to creating a structure that's more sustainable and inclusive of community interests," he said.

Walden said airports can be managed by municipalities, airport authorities, mass transit districts or by intergovernmental agreement. Some airports, such as Decatur's, are overseen by a park district.

In other cases, private contractors have been hired to manage airports.

Walden said Willard Airport is important to the university because it helps maintain the research prominence of the Urbana campus.

But it's also important to the community because "local air service is a key driver in economic development, job creation and recruitment," he said.

Recommendations for the two studies came from a committee co-chaired by Seamus Reilly of Parkland College and Bill Giannetti of Flightstar Corp.

Also on the committee were Lori Patterson of OJC Technologies and Walden, the UI's director of real estate planning and services.

Cameron Moore, vice chairman of the economic development group, asked Walden if it was fair to characterize a letter from UI President Michael Hogan as saying the university "is open to the idea of getting out of the business of managing the airport."

Walden said Moore's characterization was "probably right."

The UI owns about 1,400 acres at the airport, according to Walden.

"I don't think under any scenario, the university would divest ownership of the land, but it could lease it or make other agreements" concerning use of it, he said.

The university has about 20 full-time-equivalent employees on the airport's staff, including crash rescue, maintenance and administrative personnel, Walden said. Steve Wanzek has been the acting airport manager since 2004.

Two other examples of university-owned airports are associated with Penn State and Texas A&M.

University Park Airport in State College, Pa., is owned and operated by Penn State. The university owns the land, runways and general aviation terminal, while the Centre County Airport Authority owns and operates the passenger terminal and general public parking.

Easterwood Airport in College Station, Texas, is owned and managed by Texas A&M. But it is self-supporting as an auxiliary enterprise of the university. It receives no state money for day-to-day operations and maintenance.

As for the "leakage" study the UI plans to do, it wouldn't be the first time such a study has been done for Willard.

In a 2006 interview, former UI administrator Gene Barton — whose responsibilities included the airport — said consultants studying a six-county area around Champaign-Urbana found Willard got about 18 percent of the air travelers.

The Indianapolis airport attracted about 28 percent of travelers, and roughly 11 percent each went to St. Louis, Bloomington and the two Chicago airports, O'Hare and Midway, he said.

However, travel patterns have changed since then, with new airlines serving Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington and a new terminal opening in Indianapolis.

Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlink no longer serve Willard, having scrapped their routes to Atlanta and Detroit, respectively.

Now American Eagle is the only airline flying from Willard, with flights to Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth.

"The world has changed dramatically since then," Walden said.