Orlando Executive Airport is poised for big expansion in aircraft handling
Aviation leaders on Wednesday approved a new service provider for corporate aircraft and small planes at Orlando Executive Airport, boosting the number of potential takeoffs and landings at the facility just east of downtown.
The provider, which will be the third to operate at the airport, “will address growing aeronautical demand for years to come in Central Florida,” said Jay Cassens, real estate vice president for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. “This will be the most substantial aeronautical project Orlando Executive Airport has ever had from a fiscal impact and one-time private investment perspective.”
The executive airport, which the aviation authority bills as the “perfect flight path for the corporate traveler,” has long had two service providers, also referred to as fixed-based operators, Sheltair Aviation Services and Atlantic Aviation.
Occupying more than 900 acres, the airport now handles about 500 takeoffs and landings daily.
They provide or host a range of services including fueling, charter flights, flight instruction, maintenance and aircraft storage.
The new fixed-based operator, SHOLA, is a subsidiary of Sky Harbour Group Corp. and has operations in Miami, Houston, Dallas, Nashville, Denver and Phoenix.
Under terms approved by the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, SHOLA will invest $40 million for 203,000 square feet of hangar space and other improvements on a tract of 20 acres leased for an initial 30 years.
Sheltair and Atlantic are on the west and north sides of the executive airport. SHOLA will occupy an undeveloped tract at the airport’s southeast expanse near the air-traffic control tower, State Road 408 and headquarters of the Central Florida Expressway Authority.
SHOLA will have 60 employees at its Orlando Executive Airport site, according to the aviation authority.
“The project checks all the boxes, adds hangar capacity, ramp space and tie downs, which addresses demand, adds competition and jobs, more aircraft fueling options, private investment in the airport infrastructure and boosts airport revenue,” Cassens said.
The authority noted that the new fixed-base operator responds to guidance of the Federal Aviation Administration by “enhancing capacity and fostering healthy competition at the airport.”
Orlando’s international and executive airports are owned by the city but governed by a state-authorized aviation authority, whose members include Orlando and Orange County mayors and five appointees of the governor.
The authority’s chairman, Carson Good, said a commercial plaza owned by the authority and sandwiched between the executive airport and State Road 50 has not generated the revenue airport executives had hoped.
“A lot of energy was spent trying to figure out how to generate income off of that old, sort of decrepit shopping center,” Good said, speaking to authority staff. “And you guys have landed an aviation use with a whole lot less aggravation. And it’s aviation highly in demand.”
The authority anticipates annual rent and other revenues from SHOLA to be more than a half-million dollars. Under terms of the deal, SHOLA will have two years to get its first phase up and running.
