Business View Magazine | February 2020

99 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2020 Airport offers full-service and self-serve 100 Low Lead as well as Jet A, which it keeps priced relatively low in order to make it a good option for aircraft owners. Additionally, the Airport offers several tiered discounts on Jet A which operators consider when looking at fuel pricing. This incentive is to entice operators to come to see Mesquite instead of going to other well- known airports in the Metroplex. Because the Airport does run a full-service FBO, it can offer additional services including rental cars for guests and equipment available to take care of any repairs. “Whenever you look at the corporate side, I’d say we do compete a little bit with Dallas Love Field, as well as Addison and Dallas Executive, mainly for business traffic that’s on the east side of Dallas, because location is a huge factor for these operators,” says Pratt. “They pick airports in order to make sure that they’re getting that CEO or executive as close to a site as they possibly can.” The real competitive advantage of the Mesquite Metro Airport is the fact that they are under the Class B airspace (Class B airspace extends from the surface to, generally, 10,000 feet), which makes it extremely easy to get in and out. There are no delays and no wait time on the ramp. Looking toward the future, the Airport is putting together a new master plan. The FAA requires airport master plans every 20 years. The Mesquite Metro Airport completed one in 2004 and updated it in 2007. Pratt suggests that due to the growth in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex now is the appropriate time to go back and redo the plan. While waiting for this study to be funded, and ultimately completed, the Airport is proceeding with the previously mentioned hangars for the FBO and looking to fix some drainage channels in order to get water off the property as quickly as possible. Other projects include the construction of two taxi lanes on the west side of the property, a switch in its fuel provider from AvFuel to Shell, and a rebranding THE MESQUI TE METRO A I RPORT General Manager, Eric Pratt with the new taxiway lights