Feb. 16--Anticipating a spring busy with filling vacant space, Tim Rogers reviewed potentially lucrative lease terms in closed session Wednesday morning with members of the Salina Airport Authority board, staff and a real estate agent.
"We are beginning a period of leasing property," Rogers, the airport authority executive director, said after the meeting was reopened to the public.
Tracey Mann, of Kansas City, Mo.-based Zimmer Real Estate, the airport authority's agent, was in on private talks with board members.
The authority is in lease negotiations with prospective tenants for portions of two buildings vacated by Hawker Beechcraft. The Wichita airplane maker is closing its Salina operation in 13 days.
The prospective tenants were not named, but new terms for a pair of leases were discussed in open session. Both leases could result in a huge boost in rent revenue if and when contracts are signed.
Hawker Beechcraft paid 88 cents a square foot a year for the 484,000 square feet of space it rented from the airport authority. The company, which was named Beech Aircraft Corp. and then Raytheon before changing to Hawker Beechcraft, has been a tenant at the airport since 1966.
Thousands more in rent
In one lease of 15,000 square feet, half of one building, the new terms require a minimum of $3 a square foot in the first year, with yearly increases built in. The lease, which is in its final stages, is to a woodworking company that will bring up to 12 jobs to Salina.
The difference in rent amounts to a minimum of $31,800 a year.
Another lease of 45,032 square feet, at $1.50 a square foot, represents a potential $27,920 a year in additional rent for the first year alone.
Those numbers are encouraging to Shelli Swanson, the airport authority's manager of administration and finance.
"It's very exciting from my chair when I can bill $1.50 or $3 bucks from 88 cents," she said.
The $1.50 rate is for a different type of building and more than double the space, Swanson said, and the prospect will be making his own improvements.
If all of the 484,000 square feet of space in 10 buildings were leased at $1.50 a square foot a year, the difference in revenue would exceed $300,000 a year.
Air traffic 'soared'
Rogers also noted Wednesday that air traffic "soared" to 4,642 operations (takeoffs and landings) in January, which is a 50 percent increase over the January 2011 total.
Much of the boost was attributed to the increase in enrollment of pilot training students at Kansas State University at Salina.
"We're getting back to where we used to be before the recession," said Bruce Boyle, manager of the airport control tower, who was in the airport terminal lobby during the board's executive session.
"K-State has had some lean years, but we were really busy from September through December, the busiest we've been in three or four years," he said.
'Copter program expands
The surge is expected to continue through the spring semester as KSU-Salina's helicopter training program gains momentum. The fleet has grown from one to four helicopters, Boyle said.
Fuel dispensed at the airport dropped another 13 percent in January -- 136,995 gallons -- compared to 2011, Rogers said, but it's consistent with activity at other airports. However, Jabara Airport in Wichita and Manhattan Regional Airport logged slight increases in fuel sold.
Special events set
Five special events planned at Salina Municipal Airport between Feb. 24 and May 18 should substantially increase fuel sales, Rogers said. Those include visits by two military units, the Project Alpha program involving unmanned aerial systems, the DC-3 weather research project and Safecon, a national collegiate flight competition.
The airport authority has estimated those events will inject nearly $1.6 million into Salina's economy. That estimate doesn't include fuel sales and hangar rental.
SeaPort's passengers up
SeaPort Airlines, Salina's scheduled air service provider, counted 237 passengers in January, the best January since 2005. Rob McKinney, SeaPort's president, will visit Salina April 4 through 6 to celebrate the beginning of the airline's four-year Essential Air Service contract. For an annual federal subsidy of just less than $1.5 million, SeaPort is providing Salina three daily flights, six days a week, to Kansas City International Airport.
Board members approved increasing the budget for fuel pump house upgrades by $42,934 -- from $86,686 to $129,620 -- to satisfy items marked to correct during an inspection and to meet industry standards.
"This is 1950s equipment and technology. They've outlived useful life," Rogers said.
The money was taken from a fund earmarked for a taxiway rehabilitation project, which has been put on hold.
-- Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by email at [email protected].
Copyright 2012 - The Salina Journal, Kan.
