TAC Air plans to break ground on soon on a multimillion-dollar executive terminal at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock, the Dallas-based firm said Monday.
TAC Air is uncertain exactly when the construction will begin, said David Edwards, spokesman for TAC Air, a division of Truman Arnold Cos. The cost of the project is "in flux," Edwards said, but it is part of an $11 million redevelopment and expansion the aviation services firm committed to under its lease terms with Clinton National Airport.
The new terminal will cover more than 10,000 square feet, Edwards said. Construction should be completed in the spring next year.
The terminal will feature amenities such as a conference room, a pilots lounge, a flight-planning area and a passenger waiting area. There also will be a theater, an outdoor patio and pilot rest areas.
The new terminal is patterned after TAC Air's facility at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky.
"It will be above and beyond the standards you would typically find at a [fixed-based operator], especially for a midsized market," Edwards said. "We will take what we learned from the Lexington facility and do a little bit of fine tuning on it to adapt to the space in Little Rock."
TAC Air currently operates out of the former Central Flying Service space, known as the North Terminal. When the new terminal is completed, TAC Air will demolish the existing terminal to make room for additional hangar space.
Fly Arkansas LLC, a Mountain Home-based aviation services company, will be the second fixed-based operator servicing the Little Rock airport when it begins operations in August. Fly Arkansas is leasing 56,000 square feet of hangar and office space at the airport that once was part of the Hawker Beechcraft facility.
"Having two [fixed-based operators] brings about a more competitive environment," said Shane Carter, a spokesman for the airport. "That can lower hangar lease rates, fuel rates and per-use ramp rates."
In February, TAC Air acquired the fixed-based operator services and purchased all the property of Central Flying Services, which operates as a tenant of TAC Air but still provides aviation services such as aircraft sales, charter flights and flight training.
TAC Air entered the Little Rock market in August when it bought the assets of fixed-based operator Supermarine.
TAC Air was based in Texarkana, Texas, from its inception in 1986 until it moved to Dallas in 2011. It has operations at 14 airports in the country.
Business on 04/21/2015