Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 9

220 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 9 The aircraft fuel servicing and general aviation service aspect of the airport is managed by the airport FBO, Centric Aviation. They have recently updated their fuel truck fleet and offer a full assortment of pilot services and aircraft maintenance. Other users of the airport include Alpine Air and Key Lime Air that provide cargo flights, and Eagle Air Med operates air medical flights as a subsidiary of Guardian Flight using their fixed wing King Air C90. San Luis Valley (SLV) Health also uses the airport as a refuelling and maintenance depot for their hospital-based helicopter. SLV Health, along with many other emergency response agencies, worked with the airport this past summer to conduct a full-scale emergency exercise, simulating an aircraft crash and running through all of the emergency procedures necessary for such an event. A full- scale emergency exercise is required by the FAA to be performed every three years for Class 1 be completed soon and will provide the airport with a 12,000-gallon Jet A fuel tank, as well as a 12,000-gallon AvGas tank. This is a significant improvement over their previous capacity and is just one more step along the way to increased operations. “Our hangars are also 100% filled right now,” Hickman reports. “We have approximately 36 hangars on the field and having them filled is a good problem to have, but still, we need to increase our capacity. We are in the middle of creating a new Master Plan for the airport which should give us plans for the next 20 years of development. We have some exciting things coming up which will maximize the airport fully for general aviation, commercial aviation, and other users. The plan will include usage ideas for our undeveloped land as well. There is a good portion, especially on the west side which could be made available for both aeronautical and non-aeronautical use.”