Airport Business - 24

COVER STORY
"One of the things that we've noticed
is that there is a distinct direction to plan
out what the next 10 to 20 years look
like at an airport. And it's not just master
planning or airport layout. It's, 'What do
my facilities look like in 20 years? What
am I going to have to do to maintain that
capital improvement program? What's my
biggest bang for my buck when I go and
do that?' Am I going to be getting a lot of
facilities, inheriting them from folks that
either aren't going to be there anymore,
or won't pay their leases? Or, if it's old
military facilities or something similar,
how can I best utilize that to again serve
my tenants and give them more space,
give them nicer space? And what's my
plans going forward to do that? How am
I going to be self sufficient and make my
own money as an airport? That really
is what it comes down to," explained
Fuehne.
For MSC, the airport has leveraged
the benefits of a strong economy and
Arizona's climate for aeronautics along
with their many initiatives and programs.
One of the more successful initiatives the
airport started came from the interviews
Spencer held with the airport's tenants.
"From those conversations, we
partnered with a couple of our companies
who said, 'One of the most effective ways
to use a trade show are the gatherings.'
So, we launched the Arizona Helicopter
Reception at the HAI Helio-Expo
helicopter trade show," Spencer said.
"The first year we had 100 attendees. Last
year was our second year - we had 240.
This year the show will be in California,
and our sponsors are anticipating 300 to
400 attendees. What's great about it is that
it's not falling just on us to advertise the
airport. We're leveraging our companies.
That event, for example, is sponsored by
six, or seven, or eight different companies
that want to attract their customers and
supply chain to an event. We're able to
get in front of them and promote the
airport. A lot of our business prospecting
is generated from those trade shows."
Another event the airport launched
last year is the State of Falcon luncheon,
an opportunity to connect with real
estate developers, real estate brokers and
investors.
"We invited them to a luncheon in a
hangar and had discussion panels of our
businesses about what infrastructure was

needed at the airport. The lunch was a
great opportunity for our companies to
explain to our developer and investor
community that there is growth potential
here from the existing companies, not
to mention the new ones coming from
outside," Spencer described.
And grow is just what the airport is
doing. A new 400,000 square-foot hangar
complex is currently being constructed by
Davcon/Mesa Hangars at MSC, targeting
primarily mid-size to large companies,
with most of the new hangars ranging
from 6,000 to 22,000 square feet - space
that MSC needs as it continues to attract
new businesses.
"Now that the economy is better, we
are starting to see more activity in our
general aviation users. They're starting to
come back. You're starting to see more
of our experimental aircraft companies,
people that restore those, fix them up,
companies that are certifying and getting
FAA certifications on airworthiness,"
said Spencer. "Another market we're
starting to see expand, as demonstrated
by our increase in jet fuel, is the midsize corporate jets. We continue to
engage and promote expansion in
the helicopter industry, maintenance
and repair operations, as well as new
aviation and aerospace industries such as
drone development research and other
technologies."

The Clarksville Climb
Far away from the deserts of Arizona, and
just a ten minute flight from the Nashville
International Airport, is Clarksville,
Tennessee and the Clarksville Regional
Airport (KCKV). The airport sees an
average of 80 f lights a day, making for
roughly 29,200 operations a year. And
while those may numbers may be a
smaller than MSC's, KCKV's aspirations
are just as high and the airport sees in
itself the potential to grow into a business
hub.
Josh Vaughn, KCKV's business
development manager, is leading the
growth.
"The economy here is just exploding.
We're an overf low of Nashville, whose
economy has quadrupled in size over
the past 10 years. We're getting the
overf low from that because it's so
much less expensive to develop here.
We're trying to capitalize on that," said

24 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / OCTOBER 2019

Vaughn. "Money.com just announced
that Clarksville Tennessee is the best
place to live in America and somewhere
out there is a company looking to build or
expand and KCKV is exactly what they've
been looking for."
For airports in KCKV's shoes, small
but poised to grow, Fuehne has advice.
"You need to kind of do an analysis
of your region and your place in life. If
you know exactly that you've got a lot
of business growth and you've got a lot
of population growth in your area, you
should really start saying, 'Okay, first and
foremost, let's get out in the community,
make sure everybody knows we're here.
Make sure everybody understands what
we can do and we can provide.' Once you
get to that point, if you have the ability to
plan, put together a document that shows
potential tenants, potential customers,
what we have. What do we have in
terms of utilities? What do we have in
terms of land that you can use to develop
on the airfield? Or in terms of facilities,
what do we have that you can service
your passengers? Have a document at the
ready to show that you can be that kind
of a partner for them to help create some
economic diversity in the community,"
Fuehne illustrated.
Vaughn's plans for KCKV run the
gamut from transforming the airport
http://www.Money.com
Airport Business

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Airport Business
