Equipped with a high-ranking military background and aviation in his DNA, he viewed taking over the airport as a golden opportunity to navigate a clear course forward. TAKING OFF BY LEVERAGING AIRPORT ASSETS After taking over the airport reins and determined to utilize the assets the airport already has to work with, Corrigan set plans in motion to take this once underutilized ‘diamond in the rough’ to the visible gem it represents today. “The airport has 18 airplanes that are housed in our T hangars and even a maintenance operation, Resicum International.This is a new business with an aviation branch, Aeropro, which opened here and they do maintenance.They have their 145 certifications and are licensed to service serious airplanes.” Corrigan also highlights that Resicum offers avionics training certification in addition to A & P mechanics training. He also points out that “We do have a military fuel contract, so we can cater to the military here, and they like the long runway as well as the uncongested airspace around here.” Corrigan lists other assets, including a large parking area, as well as approximately 1,800 acres at the airport off the abandoned runway. “The airport also has an industrial park.” “I own the rail spur that comes through our park and we are only one of a few industrial parks that have rail service and one of the only ones that has all three- rail spur, industrial land, and an airfield.” Projecting ahead, Corrigan muses that eventually, an intermodal distribution operation could even be a possibility. “I want to leverage these assets to make the biggest bang for the buck for the Selma, Dallas County economy,” he states with determination. He articulates that “A home run would be if we were able to land a maintenance repair operation.” Such 172 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 07
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