3 days ago
Private air travel in Birmingham getting an upgrade with new FBO facilities
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) – The portion of the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport where private planes and businesses fly in and out of will be undergoing a $40 million redevelopment.
'The business that we handle has consistently grown, and we can really just see it from the demand that we have, from the clientele that we have that not only have aircraft and aircraft operations based here, but those that fly into the market on a transient basis,' said Atlantic Aviation CEO Jeff Foland.
Atlantic Aviation is the investor in the redevelopment. The new and improved Fixed Based Operator (FBO) terminal will include a 7,500 square foot terminal with a café, conference rooms and lounge areas for flight crews. Two 30,000 square foot hangars will be built, also holding office and shop spaces. On top of the buildings, seven acres of ramps and runways will be added to the FBO campus.
'This will 100% without question be the newest flagship we have in the network. This will be a world-class, innovative, the most modern, contemporary, complete, private aviation campus across all of the 105 campuses that we have in North America and frankly, it will stand right up there with any private aviation campus in the world,' Foland said. 'Very often, we need infrastructure to be refreshed and renewed, and world-class cities need world-class infrastructure. This is a very important market to Atlantic, and it has been for a very long time, and we plan for it to be very important to us for many decades to come as well. So, it's really just getting state of the art equipment, hangar space, ramp space, to make sure that we can handle more traffic and handle it very smoothly going forward and really help economic development of the Birmingham area at large.'
Birmingham Airport Authority board chair Ashby Pate says this FBO will be many people's first impression of the city.
'These customers are general aviation pilots, corporate business travelers, private jet owners, charter flight operators, emergency service providers, and the list goes on and on,' said Pate. 'We're talking about aviation customers who not only live here and travel elsewhere, but others who are coming here, sometimes for the first time to visit family or attend sporting events and celebrate the kinds of milestones that typically bring people together.'
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin says the new facilities will be a wonderful welcome to the community. During Thursday's groundbreaking, Woodfin made a note that Atlantic Aviation is intentionally choosing local contractors for the project.
'These projects are typically the culmination of many months, a lot of planning and a lot of work, and so to the Atlantic Aviation and the members of the Birmingham Airport Authority board, I want to congratulate you on bringing this important project to fruition,' Woodfin said. 'You all have been serving our community, you're not new, and so as we see it, this is not a welcome to Birmingham. This is a thank you for continuing to choose Birmingham.'
Atlantic Aviation expects construction to take around 20 months.
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