San Bernardino, Calif., Airport Renovations on Track

By Josh Brown, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Feb. 9–Part of a $45 million effort to revamp San Bernardino International Airport’s terminal and build a general aviation center there could be completed as early as summer, a major step forward for officials hoping to lure passenger traffic.

Officials broke ground last summer and expect to have the terminal finished by August.

Meanwhile, construction to erect the general aviation complex to house a franchise of Million Air Interlink, a Houston-based private-aviation services company, could begin in months and be finished by the end of the year, said Scot Spencer, general manager of SBD Aircraft Services, which is overseeing both projects.

The projects at the former Norton Air Force Base come just two years after the airport finished a $34 million runway refurbishment.

For the past year, members of the San Bernardino International Airport Authority’s board and staff have said they are in serious negotiations with airlines and an announcement is imminent. But officials decline to disclose the names of potential carriers or to discuss details of the negotiations.

They now say they could reach a deal by summer.

In the meantime, projects are under way to build jet fuel tanks and to update the airport’s control tower.

Bill Ingraham, aviation director at San Bernardino International, said the airport is spending some $277,000 to add lighting and navigational aids to put the tower into operation. He also said the airport is in negotiations with a company to operate the tower.

Last May, Spencer’s firm purchased a Million Air general aviation franchise and will pay the company to manage the operation once construction is finished.

And in September, SBD also reached a deal to buy Blue’s Aviation from Don Blue for $2.5 million and has plans to eventually combine the company with the new Million Air general aviation venture.

Spencer also said his company late last month launched a new form to merge with So Cal Precision Aircraft, a maintenance company that has been a tenant of SBD since March 2006.

He said the maintenance company had been struggling to complete new work and over expanded. To keep the operation going, Spencer said his group invested more than $1 million in a joint venture, shedding the So Cal name and operating as Norton Aircraft Maintenance Services.

“We decided that it needed some financial involvement on our part to make sure it continued to operate,” Spencer said. “Having a repair station has always been one of the goals of airport. It’s back to that one-stop-shopping strategy.”

The hangar also houses aircraft painting firm AeroPro, and Baysys West, an aircraft interior remodeling company.

Spencer said Greg Albert, president of So Cal, will remain president of the new group, though Spencer’s group will also oversee the operation.

—–

To see more of The Press-Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.PE.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.