TAA and Air National Guard Agree On Plan for New Main Gate to Base

The Tucson Airport Authority Board of Directors on Aug. 1, approved a letter of intent outlining a plan to resolve a complicated three-party negotiation that will relocate the main entrance gate to the Air National Guard Base at Tucson International Airport (TUS) and allow for expansion and other modifications of the base.

The plan is the culmination of more than six years’ of effort by the TAA, the Air National Guard and Aerovation Inc., a Tucson-based aerospace technology firm that will have to relocate as a result of the changes.

“This has been a long time coming but at last we have an agreement that meets the needs of the Air National Guard for enhanced security and operational efficiency and keeps a valued tenant at the airport,” said Bonnie Allin, President and CEO of the TAA. “From the very beginning the Airport Authority has supported the Guard’s desire to move its main gate. At the same time we have a tenant that contributes significantly to the $7.4 billion annual economic impact the TAA brings to the region. The goal was to make sure both organizations were accommodated in a manner that allows for their continued growth and contributions to the community.”

The letter of intent details the use of about 18 acres of airport land at the southeast corner of East Valencia Road and South Park Avenue. Key to the plan is providing space for a new main entrance gate to the 162nd Wing Arizona Air National Guard facility off Park Avenue replacing the existing entrance at 1700 East Valencia Road that has been in use since the base was opened in 1958.   

The agreement approved by the TAA Board includes a provision for the Guard to pay a nominal administrative fee of $500 per year to lease the land.  

The land that will be used for the new gate currently includes a hangar and aircraft apron used by Aerovation, which has invested more than $1.5 million into the facilities as part of a long-term lease with the TAA. Under this new agreement, the Air National Guard, in accordance with federal property acquisition regulations, will pay for replacement facilities on a site off East Aero Park Boulevard on the southwest side of the airfield near the new air traffic control tower that was opened in 2016.

Once completed, Aerovation has agreed to move its operations to the new facility. The company will keep its administrative headquarters on the opposite side of the airfield, at 7005 S. Plumer Ave.

“A great deal of credit for the success of Aerovation comes from doing business here in Tucson with the Tucson Airport Authority and we are grateful that so much work has been gone into assuring our future here,” said Paul Finn, President of Aerovation Inc.

Aerovation is an aerospace company which currently has about 70 employees, including aircraft engineers and designers serving private sector and military customers. 

The TAA and Air National Guard have been working to relocate the main entrance gate to the base since 2012 after a military security review found issues with the existing entrance. In March 2013, the National Guard Bureau and TAA agreed to a plan to relocate the base entrance to a location off South Park Avenue that went around what is now Aerovation’s hangar. Further analysis by the Guard resulted in development of a new plan that would have resulted in demolition of Aerovation’s facilities. 

Also crucial to the negotiations were FAA Runway Protection Zone requirements and TAA’s Runway Clear Zone Policy. Both put limits on development and structures off the ends of runways. At TUS, the TAA’s policy extends the FAA’s protected area. It was adopted in 1979, two years after a Boeing 727 airliner taking off from the airport clipped power poles and lines 130 feet to the side of the runway when it was apparently caught by a sudden wind shear, according to the National Transportation Safety Board report. That aircraft returned safely to the airport with no injuries. The policy proved beneficial in an incident on New Year’s Eve 1989 when a Boeing 737 airliner landing at the airport lost hydraulic pressure and skidded off the end of the runway. Four passengers were injured in that incident.