BRYANT — The Saline County Regional Airport opened in 2007 and is considered a valuable asset to the community.
Not only is it a base for fliers in the area, it is also often the first place in the county seen by site locators and other corporate officials looking for a place to build a new business. First impressions count when it comes to winning a business that brings in tax dollars and new jobs, and the impression made by the airport will be enhanced early next year with a terminal for departing and incoming passengers.
The chambers of commerce from both Benton and Bryant hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 11 for a new $865,000 terminal for the airport. The 4,000-square-foot facility will offer conference rooms and flight-planning equipment but will be primarily for corporate pilots to lay over between flights.
“When a corporate plane comes in, the pilots have to wait for their passengers to make their visit and be ready to take off again, often forced to hang out in hangars with few facilities,” said Jimmy Fields, a member of the Saline County Regional Airport Commission. “The terminal will give the pilot a place to rest, take a shower, get some sleep, and there will be computers to help plot their next flight.”
Everett Buick GMC in Bryant will loan a courtesy vehicle to the airport that pilots can use if they want to go into town or run an errand.
Along with being a needed rest stop for pilots, Fields said the terminal will include meeting rooms where incoming guests can be welcomed.
“If there needed to be a face-to-face meeting during a project,” Fields said, “the corporate officials could fly in, have their meeting, then fly out again.”
Saline County Judge Lanny Fite said the terminal was identified as a need long before the latest county airport was built.
“Talks about a terminal go back to at least 2002, when Alcoa gave the county the property for the airport,” he said. “The terminal or, for that matter, the airport itself could not have been built without partnerships.”
He said the gift of the land allowed the county to use the value of the property as security for matching funds received to build the airport and the proposed terminal. Grants have been received from state economic-development organizations and the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics. Fite said much of the funds for the terminal came from general-improvement grants, state funds obtained through the aid of state legislators. The county judge said no county funds were used for the terminal.
Gary James, executive director of the Benton Area Chamber of Commerce, expressed his agreement with Fite that it took a cooperative effort of many organizations to create the airport and the terminal.
“This is what partnership is all about,” James said. “This happens when communities take a greater view and work together for the good of the entire region.”
Fields said the terminal is set to be completed in six to eight months.
Rae Ann Fields, executive director of the Bryant Area Chamber of Commerce, said it is fitting that the county would celebrate the beginning of construction of the new terminal on Sept. 11, remembering that all nonmilitary flights were grounded across the country on that date in 2001.
A unit from the Bryant Fire Department displayed a huge U.S. flag as the backdrop for the ceremony.
Fields announced that with the rain that was falling before and during the ceremony, the groundbreaking would happen inside a hangar rather than at the site where the terminal will be built.
“We will need to imagine we are breaking ground today,” she told the dignitaries at the event. “Just line up, and take the groundbreaking stance.”
Armed with golden shovels, the groundbreakers lined up for photos and, on a count of three, enacted lifting a shovel of dirt and tossing it forward. It took a couple of times to get everyone moving in unison, but the activity ended in applause.
Fite said the terminal should be open for business early in 2015.
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.