Business View Magazine November-December 2018

132 133 THEWICHITA FALLS REGIONAL AIRPORT protect passengers from bad weather. “They used to have to go out in the elements and go up manual stairs to get on the aircraft,”Waltjen notes. “Now, with the jet bridges, they’re out of the el- ements when they’re board- ing and deplaning.” Other recent upgrades in- clude work on the Airport’s parking lot, ramp, taxiway, and runway. “We’re in the process of redoing our service road,”Waltjen adds. “We’re also in the process of redoing our GA apron. A lot of the concrete here is over 50 years old and a lot of the sub-base is failing, so we’re redoing it to last us another 50 years.We’re also looking at putting in an MRO– a maintenance repair facility for commercial PREFERRED VENDOR n Wichita Falls Chamber of Commerce www.landinwichitafalls.com aircraft –because we’re situated at the halfway point between Oklahoma City and Dallas/Ft. Worth, and there’s no maintenance in between for these aircraft.We’re looking at between five and ten years to put up a maintenance hangar to support and maintain commercial aircraft.” Meanwhile, Waltjen says that the Airport will continue the City of Wichita’s policy to provide the best customer service possible. “We are 100 percent customer service-based,” he asserts. “We are hands on, we get involved, and we have a very good relationship with all our ten- ants.We’re always trying to make it better and provide a better product and better services to our passengers and our customers.”