Fixed base operator sought for airport
In the News
The City of Maryville has issued a formal request for proposals and is seeking responses from applicants qualified to serve as a “fixed base operator” at Northwest Missouri Regional Airport.
Such operators, commonly referred to as FBOs, serve airports in the capacity of independent contractors who typically provide such services as flying lessons, maintenance and mechanical work, fueling, hangaring, tying down, and aircraft parking.
An FBO can be either a company or an individual.
The closing date for RFP responses is 5 p.m. Friday, March 3. Application details are available at www.maryville.org or by calling the city clerk’s office at 660.562.8001.
All proposals must be sealed in an envelope marked “Sealed proposal — Fixed Base Operator for NW MO Regional Airport, Open 3/3/17, Attn.: Sheila Smail, City Clerk.”
The city-owned airport is currently without an FBO, and routine, non-mechanical tasks, such as fueling aircraft, are being handled by three part-time workers.
Kevin Rankin had served as both airport manager and FBO since 2003, but the manager’s position was eliminated at the beginning of the city’s new fiscal year on Oct. 1, and Rankin elected to move his separate FBO business to his family’s private airstrip east of town.
City Manager Greg McDanel said the manager’s position was cut due to financial constraints. The airport is currently under the direct administrative authority of Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland.
McDanel said this fall that the decision to eliminate the airport manager position was made following input from the Airport Board, a citizens panel that has no executive authority but advises City Hall with regard to airport planning, budgeting, and operations.
All FBO applications will be reviewed by the Airport Board before a contract is approved and executed by the City Council.
Northwest Missouri Regional Airport recently reopened following months of work to replace most of the airfield’s 4,600-foot-long concrete runway.
The $3.4 million project also embraced installation of new runway and taxiway lights, a new wind cone, and associated electrical wiring and fixtures.
Long known as Maryville Memorial Airport, the landing field was built after World War II and renamed in 2003.
Recent improvements include a terminal building completed in 2007 and the installation of a two-tank fuel island in 2009 that dispenses both aviation gasoline and jet fuel.
