Orlando Expansions
Orlando Expansions
By John F. Infanger, Editorial Director
January/February 2001
SHOWALTER FLYING
SERVICES - ORLANDO
EXECUTIVE AIRPORT
Rocking chairs and a wrap-around
porch maintain the flavor of Southern charm, but everything
else says new at the $1.8 million fixed base operation
opened by Bob and Kim Showalter this past fall. The
11,000-sq.ft. terminal also features a V-shape design
that resembles a flying-wing bomber from the air. 
Showalter
is a Phillips 66 Aviation Performance Center that has 32 employees. The
FBO, into year four of a 25-year lease, has a 50-acre leasehold that includes
50 individual T-hangars and 15 additional hangars ranging from 4,000 to
10,000 sq.ft. - housing some 180 tenant aircraft. Plans call for construction
of a 10,000-sq.ft. and 15,000-sq.ft. hangar.
According to the company,
some 80-85 percent of annual fuel revenues ($5-6 million)
come from transients to the vacation destination city.
The Showalter FBO also is now a Southeast sales representative
for the German manufactured Extra aircraft.
RANGER AVIATION - KISSIMMEE MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
Ranger Aviation, Inc.,
operator of the Ranger Jet Center at Kissimmee, is preparing
to break ground on a 166,000-sq.ft. hangar/office complex.
The $10 million project will also feature up to ten
hangars, 13,500-sq. ft. each. Ranger is an AirBP dealer
that currently operates its FBO in a 24,000-sq.ft. office/
hangar facility.
Charles
"Kip" Bonar and T.R. "Tony" Capps are co-founders
of the FBO. They are also owners of Ranger Building Services, Inc., a
construction management and general contracting firm that has also undertaken
the new FBO complex.
Kissimmee Municipal markets
itself as the closest airport to OrlandoÕs convention
center and theme parks.
