Waterloo City Council Approves Lease for Air Ambulance Company

Dec. 29—WATERLOO — An air ambulance company will be granted a five-year lease at the Waterloo Regional Airport, the Waterloo City Council unanimously decided Monday.

The company, Air Methods Corporation, will have an office and crew base near the airport's fifth hangar on the west side of the airfield. The company will be able to store its helicopter inside the fifth hangar during bad weather. The airport is responsible for snow and ice control in the winter as well as grass maintenance in warmer months.

The lease, effective Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2025, has a first-year annual rent amount totaling $2,400. Rent will be paid in monthly $200 installments. Rent will increase each year of the agreement by $25 per month.

The rent will not rise above $300 per month if the air ambulance company extends the agreement. The agreement allows Air Methods Corporation to sign three five-year extensions of the lease.

The rent pricing for Air Methods Corporation is comparable to other companies with hangars at the Waterloo Regional Airport, said airport Director Keith Kaspari.

"We cannot discriminate when we do lease agreements in setting forth the ground lease rate," Kaspari said Monday.

Before being granted space near the fifth hanger, records show that Air Methods Corporation previously was stationed at Waterloo Regional Airport's passenger terminal building. The contract expired in summer 2019. The passenger terminal building had two former airline office suites.

The company's new space will accumulate less revenue for the airport than the former lease at the passenger terminal building. City documents do not state how much the difference will be.

The lease agreement shows that Air Methods Corporation's main office is based in Colorado. The company says it does more than 65,000 patient transports over 150,000 flight hours across the country each year.

The Waterloo base will add to Air Methods Corporation's existing 300 bases of operation that provide services to 49 states, according to the company website.

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