Business View Magazine | December 2018

172 173 previously constructed apron that has had its pavement sufficiently thickened to handle aircraft as large as a DC-10. Barsalou reports that the apron area is in the process of being developed for commercial-use hangars. “It opened up a considerable amount of area on the Airport’s east side that is now available for development,” says Tepper of the project. “The key for us is some of the larger scale develop- ments. So, we have some space on the west side where we can build some general aviation, but in terms of being able to build something larger, an MRO facility or something that can handle larger aircraft, that Taxiway B construction essentially allows us to open that area up for those types of developments.” “We’re just finishing our inventory chapter of the Airport’s Master Plan, and now we’re going to work on what’s coming in the future,” Barsa- lou says. “I think there is some opportunity for the development of private hangars, as well as corporate, and I’d like to see the development of both.Whether the Airport does it or we end up in some type of lease arrangement, I think it’s a way to generate more income for the Airport to help turn that $1.2 million thing around. All I can do is chew away at it. Some tenants are concerned with, ‘Well you’re going to raise my rent, you’ll triple my rent, or you’re going to quadruple my rent,’ and that’s not really my goal, at all. I see it as just chipping away at that number rather than, wholesale, trying to flip it on its head. I just don’t see that happening.” Citing predictions of a future uptick in demand CRATER LAKE – KLAMATH REGIONAL AIRPORT n Mead & Hunt www.meadhunt.com for aviation professionals, such as pilots and mechanics, Tepper says discussions have been held with the Oregon Institute of Technology and Klamath Community College about the Airport playing a role in helping to fill those jobs. “We have a lot of great personnel coming out of the Air National Guard with their F-15 program that could supply some good synergies with those types of programs,” she says. “They certainly have a lot of personnel who are doing aircraft mainte- nance. They just need the civilian certifications to be able to transfer that career, when they’re done with the military, over to the private sector.” PREFERRED VENDOR