Airport to work out deal for new air cargo building

Decatur company involved in project set at $7.5 million

Huntsville airport officials are starting final talks with Decatur-based Fite Building Co. Inc. for a new 84,000-square-foot air cargo building at the International Intermodal Center.

The Huntsville/Madison County Airport Authority on Tuesday directed Rick Tucker, executive director of Huntsville International Airport, to start final negotiations with Fite over a design/build contract price that's within the approved budget for the air cargo facility. The building will have office and warehouse space.

The fiscal year 2008 budget includes $7.5 million for the project. That amount is expected to cover design and construction costs and consultant and legal fees throughout the project.

Stan Hogan, the airport's director of capital improvements, expects a final contract to be worked out by the end of next week.

Plans are for the building to be completed by January 2009.

The authority also gave the go-ahead for Tucker to enter into a ground lease agreement with McLean, Va.-based Aviation Facilities Co. Inc. for property at the intermodal center. Yates Construction Co., based in Philadelphia, Miss., and RW Armstrong, based in Indianapolis, will build a facility for WestWind Technologies Inc. to maintain, repair and overhaul aircraft and aircraft parts. WestWind is a Huntsville-based defense contractor.

The 63,000-square-foot hangar will be large enough to accommodate two Air Force C-130 aircraft and additional helicopters, said Brooks Kracke, the director of Jetplex Industrial Park.

Aviation Facilities will own the hangar and lease it to WestWind, Kracke said.

In other business, Tucker reported there were 107,390 airport passengers in November, up 12.9 percent from the same month last year. The passenger count through November was nearly 1.14 million, a 7.3 percent increase over the same period last year, according to airport figures.

"We anticipate (the traffic count) to be up about 7 percent for the year," Tucker said.

The airport authority also elected its 2008 officers: Jeff Sikes, chairman; Mark McDaniel, vice chairman; Betty Fletcher, secretary/treasurer; and William Johnston Jr., vice secretary.