Berry Aviation, Inc. To Break Ground On 3.2 Million Dollar Expansion At The San Marcos Regional Airport

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San Marcos, TX. – Last year, Berry Aviation, Inc. announced the signing of a 40-year land lease with the City of San Marcos and on Friday, April 20th – less than a year later – will break ground on a new 31,000+ square foot facility. The approximately $3.2 million investment will allow Berry to better accommodate their growing airline fleet and staff.

Texas Aviation Partners, the company contracted to manage San Marcos Regional Airport on behalf of the City, worked with Berry to secure the ground lease that will ensure Berry’s presence in San Marcos for the next four decades.

The new facility will house Berry’s maintenance and supply-chain headquarters, and will include a 20,000 square foot maintenance hangar, machine shop, non-destructive testing lab, state-of-the-art parts retrieval system, and more than 10,000 square feet of office space.

The facility will allow Berry to work on larger aircraft in a controlled environment and perform component overhaul for third party air carriers. Berry anticipates adding an additional 20 to 30 high-skilled employees as part of the expansion.

The San Marcos Chamber of Commerce, along with Texas Aviation Partners, the City of San Marcos, and Berry Aviation, will host a ground-breaking ceremony for Berry Aviation’s new facility at the San Marcos Regional Airport.

This event will be marked with the following speakers;

  • John Thomaides, Mayor of San Marcos
  • Jim Wimberly, Texas Aviation Partners
  • Jason Mock, President and CEO of the San Marcos Area Chamber of Commerce
  • Stan Finch, President of Berry Aviation
  • Scott Gregson, San Marcos Councilmember, Airport Advisory Board Chairman

Berry Aviation, Inc., founded in 1983, Berry Aviation, Inc. provides airlift and aviation support services to address challenging circumstances in industry and government. Headquartered in San Marcos, Texas, with satellite facilities across the U.S., the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Islands, Berry covers almost 2.5 million miles, performing more than 13,000 flight operations, annually. Berry specializes in solving geopolitical, regulatory, environment and time related air transportation complexities through capabilities-driven aviation. More information on the company’s services, certifications, and history can be found at www.berryaviation.com.

Texas Aviation Partners was founded in 2007 to offer a unique blend of aviation and business solutions. TAP provides services that range from airport and FBO management to business development plans, capital improvement project management, and consulting. To learn more, visit www.texasaviationpartners.com.

San Marcos Regional Airport occupies nearly 1,400 acres, San Marcos Regional Airport is the city’s largest parcel of developable land and has been managed by Texas Aviation Partners since 2010. The airport is home to more than 250 based aircraft and 13 aviation-related businesses employing over 150 people. San Marcos Regional is the only reliever airport in Texas for two international airports (Austin-Bergstrom and San Antonio International).

Source: https://smcorridornews.com/berry-aviation-inc-to-break-ground-on-3-2-million-dollar-expansion-at-the-san-marcos-regional-airport/

NTRA now candidate for FAA tower program

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By Jerrie Whiteley, Herald Democrat

Posted Apr 3, 2018 at 11:17 AM

North Texas Regional Airport — Perrin Field’s control tower is now a candidate for the the Federal Aviation Administration’s contract tower program.

U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe and County Judge Bill Magers talked about the new status for the local control tower during Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting. For Grayson County residents, getting the tower into the program will mean a $300,000 relief off the county’s $30 million budget and an upgrade to part of the county’s economic engine.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without my staff’s tireless coordination with our home-state U.S. Senators and their staffs, constant contact with the FAA and DOT, and collaboration with Grayson County officials, including Judge Magers and Texas Aviation Partners,” Ratcliffe said in a press release. “Since the Trump administration took charge, I’m glad we’ve made drastic progress on this important Northeast Texas priority at a much more efficient pace, so that the folks I’m proud to represent can start reaping the rewards of our long-fought battle.”

Ratcliffe said there are just a few things the county had to do to get accepted into the program, but he doesn’t anticipate any trouble with that. County Judge Bill Magers said the county had yet to receive the task list for getting in, but has been assured it won’t be a problem.

The $300,000 that the county has had to put toward the airport could be put to work in other areas including, possibly, other transportation-related projects. Magers recently said the $300,000 represents about half a cent on the tax rate and could relate, at some point, to another tax decrease for the county.

Last month, Jamie Baker, director of public policy for U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe, told commissioners that the county’s benefit-to-cost-ratio numbers regarding tower spending were up for final review with the federal government. If accepted into the program, the tower could receive up to $500,000 in annual funding, which would be an increase of about $200,000 for the airport.

Grayson County first moved to get the control tower into the FAA’s Tower Program in June 2012. The FAA program currently extends federal funds to most of the nation’s air traffic control towers which are stationed at airports that record at least 100,000 operations, or flights, each year.

Magers recently said NTRA records 80,000 annual operations, but that figure did not include operations which occurred during hours the tower was closed. If those after-hours operations were included in the count, Magers said the tower would surpass the 100,000 mark stipulated by the program.

While both Magers and Ratcliffe were quick to praise each other as they celebrated the announcement Tuesday, Magers also had congratulations for others.

“We want to give thanks to those who came before us,” Magers said indicating the commissioners and county judges who have invested county time and money in the airport in the past.

He said that effort went back decades before he became county judge.

“This moves us from a minor league airport to a major league airport,” Magers said of NTRA’s acceptance as a candidate for the federal program.

He said it should also make a difference to companies that are looking to locate in Grayson County.

Source: http://www.heralddemocrat.com/news/20180403/ntra-now-candidate-for-faa-tower-program