TIA Hangar Deal May Create 410 Jobs

Could something similar this come in a few years for the Panama City Florida International Airport?

By TED JACKOVICS, The Tampa Tribune
Published: March 7, 2008
Updated: 03/06/2008 08:55 pm
TAMPA - Up to 410 new jobs could be created at Tampa International Airport in the next two years after approval Thursday of a maintenance hangar lease with a Dothan, Ala.-based company.
The 15-year lease with Pemco World Air Services Inc., which specializes in aircraft maintenance and converting airliners such as Boeing 737s into cargo carriers, should help offset a slowdown in airport revenue as the sluggish economy cuts into passenger traffic.
The new jobs outweigh annual lease revenue that could rise to as much as $630,185 by 2010, officials said. "I am more excited about the 400 new jobs than the rent," said airport director Louis Miller. The new jobs are especially welcome during the current tough economic times, said Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who sits on the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority board.
Pemco will begin moving into the former US Airways hangar on the east side of Tampa's airport on April 1. The hangar is the size of three football fields and has been unused since US Airways closed it in November 2002, idling 300 local employees.
A former Delta Air Lines maintenance hangar also on North West Shore Boulevard that employed about 350 people has been vacant since mid-2005.
Pemco executive Kevin Casey on Thursday hinted that the company could become interested in that facility some time in the future.
However, Pemco's lease with the aviation authority includes a termination provision if the Delta facility is leased to a competitor and Pemco is unable to conduct its business, which could occur if another company rented the Delta hangar and stripped Pemco of its employees.
For the time being, however, that appears to be more a matter of long-term legal protection for Pemco's interests rather than a pressing concern.
The vacant Delta and US Airways hangars resulted from the aviation industry's economic slump at the beginning of the decade. That led to both US Airways and Delta filing for bankruptcy court protection and allowed them to terminate lease agreements, among other restructuring moves.
Because much of U.S. airline heavy maintenance is outsourced to foreign countries in recent years, recruiting a new hangar tenant has been difficult. At one point, a group of former airline mechanics discussed forming their own company to work from one of the hangars, but those plans failed to materialize.
The US Airways and Delta hangar closings idled highly qualified mechanics and those with other skills, many of whom remained in the community and who might be interested in returning to work at the Pemco hangar, Miller said.
The aviation authority originally authorized negotiations with Pemco in July, but following an ownership and management change, Pemco deferred forging a lease.
The timing of the management changes and uncertainties about Pemco's client base caused new Pemco president Wakelee Smith to be uncomfortable in executing a large lease in his first month as president, airport officials said.
The aviation authority said it then discussed leases with other companies, but none of those contacts were successful and the discussions were terminated.
One of those was Miami-based Astar Air Cargo of Miami, which expressed disappointment at losing out to Pemco for the lease in July. A representative for Astar would not comment Thursday on whether Astar is interested in the Delta hangar.
The Pemco hangar lease provides an escalation in guaranteed land and facility rent from $105,719 for nine months in 2008 to $407,634 in 2010. A formula based on Pemco's revenue could increase the latter amount by an additional $222,000 by 2010.
In other business, the aviation authority approved in a federally required public hearing a proposal to issue $215 million in airport revenue bonds and a continuation of commercial paper not to exceed $200 million.
The bond money would be used to fund all or portions of various projects, including the economy parking garage expansion, the cargo road extension between Ohio and Hillsborough avenues, a new cargo building and some projects for the new North Terminal scheduled to open in October 2015.
Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at tjackovics@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7817.

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