Tenants Fear More Than $1 Million in Losses

Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney, TX is scheduled for a major runway rehabilitation project in October of this year that will involve a temporary closure of the airport's sole runway.

Continuing deterioration of the current runway, combined with escalating construction costs and rapid growth of the airport, prompted airport officials to recommend rehabilitating the runway. A proposed replacement runway remains at least 3-5 years out, and is dependent upon the necessary environmental approvals and sources of available funding, according to airport officials.

Airfield tenants are bracing for more than $1 million in losses they fear will accrue while the runway is closed, according to the McKinney Courier-Gazette.

Officials with WingsPoint, an FBO managed by Cutter Aviation, presented airport staff with an estimate of $1,262,471 in losses the company is expecting to lose during the runway closure, said Airport Director Ken Wiegand. The figure is based on an engineering study that was presented to airport officials on March 15 by Pann Sribnen, project manager at PSA Engineers. It includes planes owned and/or operated by Cutter Aviation. The study also included three alternatives to the runway rehabilitation work.

Global technology company EDS bases its corporate fleet at the airport. The company has already budgeted the runway closure for this fiscal year, and it stands to lose $100,000 to $127,000, Wiegand said.

EDS spokesperson Travis Jacobsen said the company is evaluating all the options available to them to continue to be able to fly at the Collin County Regional Airport.

Torchmark, parent company of United American Insurance, houses its corporate fleet at the airport and does not expect to be greatly affected by the closure. The company is relocating to McKinney later this year.

"We are very supportive and we understand that the runway needs to be repaired. Our chief pilot said that it doesn't appear that it will affect us as much as other businesses as they have their fleet maintained at the airport, and we do not," said Torchmark Vice President Joyce Lane.

Another airport tenant, Texas Instruments, has not yet presented a figure to airport staff of their projected losses, Wiegand said.

The McKinney City Council is discussing what, if any, financial compensation the city will provide to airport tenants during the runway's 30-45 day closure.

"Council is looking at what kind of financial impact the closure will have on the tenants and whether to compensate them, and if so what amount would be warranted," said city of McKinney spokesperson Steve Hill.

The council liaison to the airport board of directors, city councilman Pete Huff, said the council has not made any decisions for compensating airport tenants because a definite plan for the runway improvement needs to be decided upon first.

"We got to settle on which alternative. We agreed to revisit alternatives and have issued a contract with HNTB to create alternatives to the runway rehabilitation work," Huff said.

He added he would like to see if other airports have financially compensated tenants during construction improvements.

"The people that pay taxes out there deserve compensation. The people that are being inconvenienced need to see what this will do for them in the future and how they will benefit from it," Huff said.

Huff said he expects the council will discuss the alternatives to the runway closure at the April 2 workshop and at the April 3 council meeting. One of the alternatives is to place a 12-inch concrete overlay to decrease the impact on the tenants.

FMI: www.collincountyregionalairport.org