ALEXANDRIA BAY — Maxson Airfield has been sold to a Georgia company and is up for lease, according to the former owner.

Arthur E. Frank Jr., Wellesley Island, who owned the airfield with his wife, Ella V., said skyrocketing operating costs forced him to sell the 204-acre airfield earlier this year.

The Franks, doing business as Thousand Islands Aviation Services LLC, sold the property to Amiok LLC, Pulaski, for $292,000 on June 27.

The airfield was sold the same day for $300,000 to Thousand Islands Airport LLC, Atlanta, Ga. Mr. Frank said the new owners have put the airfield up for lease. He declined to name the people behind the enterprise.

The Franks had purchased the airfield in 1999. Mr. Frank said operating costs for privately owned airports increased dramatically in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Insurance costs, in particular, went up a little more than 100 percent, he said.

At the same time, airfield visitor numbers dropped from a high of 3,200 to about 2,800 people, he said. The majority of those were summer visitors to Alexandria Bay.

Last year, heavy snowfall forced the airport to close for the winter for the first time.

"We kept it open in the winter, except for this past winter," Mr. Frank said. "The costs of keeping it cleared were tremendous. It just wasn't worthwhile to keep it open."

In January, facing growing out-of-pocket expenses, the Franks decided to sell the property.

"Looking at the costs, looking at the potential, we decided there was no way we could cover any of the operating expenses," Mr. Frank said. "It was a bottomless pit."