N.M. looks to double its airplane fleet

Second plane, like first, would fly state executives, visually impaired students, doctors in remote areas

The state of New Mexico’s planned purchase of a second airplane is almost ready for takeoff more than a decade after a former governor whittled the state’s small fleet to one.

The Legislature approved a $9 million capital outlay appropriation earlier this year to purchase a new state airplane, and documents obtained under a public records request show the state government expects to buy the aircraft by April. It would be used to transport state executives and employees, physicians who provide care in remote areas and children who attend a school for the blind and visually impaired.

Anna Silva, deputy secretary of the New Mexico General Services Department, said Friday the agency is drafting a request for proposals for a contractor to conduct a nationwide search for an airplane.

“We’re still developing the scope of work,” she said, adding the department is on track to meet the April purchase date.

The documents obtained under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act — which were requested by Larry Behrens, Western states director of the pro-oil and gas group Power the Future and shared with The New Mexican — also show the department has been researching its options since at least May.

“Thanks for the time yesterday to discuss the State of New Mexico’s interest in a latemodel or new King Air” airplane, Jim Mitchell, executive sales director of Elliott Jets, an Illinois-based aircraft sales and acquisition business, wrote May 4 in an email to the state’s Aviation Services Bureau.

The email included a market report for three types of used aircraft ranging in price from about $3 million to $7 million.

James P. Chavez, deputy director of the department’s Transportation Services Division, said in an interview the bureau was investigating the price and availability of aircraft.

“The reason we’re using a brokerage is that we’ve had conversations with the factory, and there are no aircraft to be made that would be made available for us that are brand-new,” he said. “It’s that whole supply-demand issue that we see with vehicles. It’s even worse with aircraft.”

Chavez said the department wants to purchase another King Air aircraft.

“What we’re trying to do is make sure we stay consistent with the actual type of aircraft we’re utilizing now so we could keep maintenance and training and everything else to pretty much the same for both aircraft, the one

we currently have and the one we’re planning to acquire,” he said.

The state government once had several aircraft in its fleet. All but one were sold during the tenure of former Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, to cut government spending and eliminate what she called a “symbol of government excess and waste.”

Behrens, who served as Martinez’s communication director, criticized the current governor over the planned purchase of another airplane.

“We’re used to climate imposters flying around on their private jets to lecture us on our gas stoves, but Governor [Michelle] Lujan Grisham is reaching new levels of hypocrisy by using taxpayers’ funds to buy a new plane while forcing electric vehicles on the rest of us,” he wrote in an email.

“Governor Lujan Grisham’s message is clear: $500 checks for us, millions for a plane for her,” Behrens added, referring to tax rebates New Mexicans received this year.

Chavez said the lone remaining airplane owned by the state makes it difficult to accommodate transportation needs.

The airplane is used provide flight services for all state agencies, including Lujan Grisham’s office, and transportation for physicians in the state Department of Health’s Children’s Medical Services, as well as children enrolled in the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Alamogordo.

“The current one we have is being utilized quite a bit,” he said, adding physicians are flown to remote areas around the state and children from the school are flown home on Fridays and back to campus on Sundays.

Chavez said Lujan Grisham flew on the airplane “five times maybe” in the last fiscal year.