New tenant ready to fill vacant airport hangar

A new tenant has been secured for the 55,000 square foot hangar that’s sat idle for almost two years at Hot Springs Memorial Field.

Airport Director Glen Barentine told the Hot Springs Board of Directors Tuesday that South Delta Aviation wants to lease the hangar AAR Corp. vacated in August 2015. The Wood Dale, Ill.,-based company relocated the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul operation it began at the airport in 2007 to Lake Charles, La., Barentine said.

A resolution authorizing the city to execute a lease agreement with South Delta Aviation is on the consent agenda for the July 18 meeting of the Hot Springs Board of Directors. Barentine told the board the company sees Memorial Field as an opportunity to build on its operations at Drake Field in Fayetteville and Thompson-Robbins Airport in West Helena.

“(South Delta Aviation) is interested in bringing a business here to conduct general aviation maintenance, aircraft storage and aircraft leasing and possibly a flight school,” he said. “They’re not consolidating. They’re expanding.”

Barentine said the potential lease income would generate $146,663 a year for the airport fund. Increased fuel sales would also result, he said. According to the city’s 2017 budget, $1,396,000 in fuel sales are projected this year, accounting for more than half of the airport’s $2.4 million in projected revenue.

“This is a very good thing,” Barentine told the board. “That hangar has been empty for a while, and it’s been a challenge to find someone to take it over. (South Delta Aviation) is well established in Arkansas, and it’s going to bring some jobs here.”

Barentine said the specialized nature

of the hangar made finding a tenant difficult. It was designed for the Canadair Regional Jet 200, he said, a mid-sized jet that’s no longer in vogue with commercial carriers.

“These jets have been replaced with larger aircraft,” he told the board. “This hangar is designed only for the CRJ 200. It had to be repurposed, and we had to go out and find someone who would be interested in the hangar. It’s not a ClearSpan hangar. It’s divided into three bays.”

Barentine said in addition to maintaining, storing and leasing aircraft, South Delta Aviation is also a licensed aircraft seller.