The
FedEx operation in Huntington may soon grow, as FedEx has tentative
plans to move its Charleston postal freight to its facility at Tri-State
Airport, airport Director Jerry Brienza told the airport authority
board on Thursday.
That means the Boeing 757 that arrives at the
airport daily would have two daily flights, which will benefit Tri-State
Airport through fuel sales, Brienza said. The company could fuel up at
its corporate headquarters in Memphis, Tenn., but to date it's been good
about purchasing some in Huntington as well, Brienza said.
Filling up a Boeing 757 requires about 2,000 gallons, and the airport makes about a $2 profit per gallon, he said.
Another
potential outcome is that the more FedEx does in Huntington, the more
it will see what Huntington has to offer and might consider an expansion
there, Brienza said. It's not something that would happen immediately,
because FedEx is in the midst of a reorganization, he said.
"Hopefully they'll come out of it bigger and stronger and want to expand, and we'll be ready when they do," Brienza said.
The transfer to Huntington is not finalized but tentatively planned for October.
"It's subject to change but it's looking good," said Eric Thomas, operations manager at the Huntington FedEx.
As
the only FedEx Express ramp-sort facility in the state of West
Virginia, the Huntington FedEx moves millions of dollars in freight.
Currently, it unloads a packed Boeing 757 every morning, and sends the
packages out on trucks throughout the region. Every night, the night
crew takes packages brought from cities throughout the region, packs up
another plane and sends it back to Memphis. It's the only air carrier in
the region that can carry heavy freight, or anything over 1,000 pounds,
Brienza said.
The Charleston FedEx operation moves a lot of U.S.
Postal Service packages and will be bringing that portion of its
business to Huntington, Brienza said. It currently flies two FedEx ATR
aircraft into Charleston, and will be consolidating that into a second
Boeing 757 flight out of Huntington.
"The Parkersburg area is
served out of Columbus, and if they did this move, we could take back
over the Parkersburg market that we lost," Thomas said.
In other
business, the airport will start the bidding process next week for water
and sewer infrastructure for the development project on the south side
of its property. In preparation for that estimated $2.1 million project,
board members approved intergovernmental agreements with the city of
Kenova, the town of Ceredo, and the U.S. Army National Guard, all of
which have made commitments toward the project. It is being paid largely
from state funds, with some financial commitment from the other
entities, Brienza said.
He also informed board members that
because the one bidder on the planned taxiway rehabilitation project
came in $1 million over budget, the airport will forgo that project for
other projects that create regular headaches at the airport.
The
airport has $1.3 million in Federal Aviation Administration Funds and a
$400,000 state match to pay for things like a new generator for the
terminal, to fix a slip, to do some paving on parts of the runway that
have settled and cracked, to address drainage issues, clean duct work
affected by the new heating and cooling system, address sediment buildup
at a dam on the property near a residence, and more.
The board
also got an update on enplanements, which were down 12 percent for the
fiscal year, compared to the previous fiscal year, said Marketing
Director Beckie McKinley. Delta Airlines, which left the airport in May
2012, carried 19 percent of the airport's passengers, she said, which
indicates that some of that business is being made up elsewhere.
Story: http://www.herald-dispatch.com
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