XN Air to boost presence at airport

XN Air, which built a 16,000-square-foot maintenance facility at Spokane’s airport in 2005, will break ground in 2007 on a second, larger hangar and aviation terminal, company officials said.

XN — with a current staff of roughly 25 workers — will construct a small-aircraft terminal building and offices for “transient” or visiting airplanes. It will also add a 60,000-square-foot service hangar and a second hangar for holding visiting aircraft overnight.

Al Hale, a general partner in XN Air, said the expansion should add about 20 new jobs to the private company’s payroll.

The land to be used will be leased from the airport; the site is on the west end of Pilot Drive on the southern half of the airport. Hale estimated the cost of construction will come to about $4 million.

Work should be completed by fall of 2007, he added.

Airport officials had originally planned to use the site to relocate Spokane Airways, another general aviation company that provides aviation services.

After discussions over relocation costs between Spokane Airways and the airport hit an impasse, the board asked for proposals from qualified companies to develop the Pilot Drive location. Only two bids were submitted, by XN Air and Spokane Aviation.

Airport officials selected XN on the basis of several criteria, the airport announced in a recent press release. Among them were the costs involved in the project. XN proposed completing the project with its own financing. Spokane Airways proposed that the airport participate by providing a 20-year amortized funding of $1.5 million.

With XN now gaining an economic advantage along Pilot Drive, Richard Chastek of Spokane Airways will now focus on reaching a deal with the airport to relocate its general aviation services.

The airport has also filed a condemnation action in court to force Spokane Aviation to move from six buildings it currently uses, including a terminal building and hangars.

With Spokane Aviation likely to lose the option for transient services, Chastek said that change poses a risk of losing up to 30 jobs at the airport.

Meanwhile Spokane Aviation has plans to relocate its other customers — individual plane owners or companies using a small aircraft — to other facilities on the airport grounds, once the vacation of the current buildings occurs, he added.

The buildings Spokane Aviation must vacate are in the line-of-sight of a new airport control tower. All those buildings will be torn down starting this spring.

Spokane Aviation has another 40 or more employees dedicated to other services at the airport, including commercial aircraft refueling. Those jobs would not be affected by moving out of the six buildings, said Chastek.