The Collin County Observer™

Plans For Commercial Airlines In Collin Co. Grounded
Expansion Plans At Regional Airport Continue

August 8, 2008
NBC 5 / KXAS-TV

McKINNEY, Texas -- The dream of commercial airline service in Collin County is apparently fading.

Expansion plans at the regional airport in McKinney continue, but there now seems to be little interest from commercial airlines.

With economic turbulence, Collin County Regional Airport finds itself navigating its desire for commercial air service with an industry that is in a tailspin.

In 2006, major airlines were courting the regional airport to provide passenger service based on the area's growth.

Studies backed up the predictions, but with a new runway and millions committed to the airports expansion, the idea of commercial flight has stalled.

McKinney's new city manager has taken a hard look at the airports plans and concluded that "smaller plane, less fuel consumptive, commercial air service that goes more directly to business and employment centers, may be the future for the airport."

For the foreseeable future, plans for 737 passenger aircraft taking off and landing are grounded.

Judge Keith Self said with the county's current growth rate, he prefers to think of commercial air service as on standby.

The airport’s board of directors and McKinney's City Council meet on Monday to discuss the airport's future.

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City, Pegasus talk passenger service here

By Brandi Hart, McKinney Courier-Gazette
Monday, July 21, 2008

Passenger flights from Collin County Regional Airport may come to fruition sooner than people realize, as some city officials have been working with the Pegasus Associates, Inc. for the last 18 months to build a passenger terminal facility at the airport.

City officials and James Alderson, a Dallas attorney who worked as a property manager at D/FW International Airport 15 years ago, presented an unsolicited proposal to the city to build the passenger terminal. However, some council members are questioning the qualifications of Alderson and his partners at Dallas-based Pegasus Associates to actually building a passenger-service program from the ground up at a general aviation airport with no current passenger.

Alderson tried to develop a passenger terminal at the Piarco Rainbow International Airport in Trinidad in the early 1990s. However, the Airports Authority for Trinidad and Tobago did not accept Pegasus Associates’ proposal after members of the Trinidad Parliament questioned the bidding process.

Alderson's work at D/FW was as a property lender and business manager. He has also worked for AMR Services, he said. D/FW already had passenger service when Alderson worked at the airport.

When asked, Alderson said he and his partners have not created a passenger terminal and service from scratch.

Alderson said that he initially wanted to build a terminal at the CCRA after meeting a lawyer at the Abernathy, Roeder, Boyd, and Joplin law firm in McKinney, where his great-great-grandfather got his started. “I am related to the Abernathys in McKinney, and Larry Boyd told me that his law partner, Bob Roeder, was the most familiar person with the on-goings of the McKinney airport,” he said.

If approved by the city and the McKinney Airport Development Corporation, the CCRA passenger terminal would be built north of the airport. Pegasus Associates is proposing that the city own the land and the Pegasus would lease it during construction of the passenger terminal. Pegasus would convey the terminal to the city upon receipt of a certificate of occupancy, according to the most recent agreement between Pegasus Associates and the city.

The agreement also states that Pegasus wants complete control of the terminal; that the city could not bring in any competitors to manage the terminal; and that Pegasus could market the airport and terminal. The city could not control or direct Pegasus or its employees in operations and management of the terminal. Pegasus would have to provide periodic, but not monthly, marketing reports.

Pegasus is also proposing, according to the proposed agreement, that it not be responsible for any breach of security at the terminal, regardless of whether such breach is caused by an airline and those under its control. The city would be responsible for security, the agreement states.

The most recent agreement also states that Pegasus would keep all terminal revenue. The city would keep the revenue from the landing fees generated by passenger flights at the airport, and Pegasus would pay the city facility use fees.

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Bill comments:

The more I read his story, the more I wondered why anyone in McKinney was talking to these guys. I'd like to follow up on this when I can get some more information.

Can you say "sweetheart deal"?

The Collin County Commissioners Court will host a
special transportation workshop on Monday, Jan. 14, 2007, at 1:30 p.m. and
will feature detailed updates and briefings on the county's transportation
funding needs for the next 20 years.

The workshop, which will be held in the central jury room of the Collin
County Courthouse at 2100 Bloomdale Road in McKinney?, will include
detailed presentations on federal, state and local transportation funding
forecasts.

Also attending will be U.S. Reps. Ralph Hall and Sam Johnson; Texas
Senators Florence Shapiro and Craig Estes; State Reps. Brian McCall?, Jerry
Madden, Ken Paxton and Jodie Laubenberg; plus, mayors and city managers
from at least 10 Collin County cities.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Texas Department
of Transportation, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the
North Texas Tollway Authority, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the Collin
County Regional Airport will participate in discussions with Collin County
leaders.

The public is invited.

Good news for the McKinney airport. Bad news for nearby residents in McKinney and Fairview, whose complaints about noise and traffic fall on deaf ears.

Bill
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State grants $5 million to airport
BY DANNY GALLAGHER, McKinney Courier-Gazette
Monday, November 19, 2007

Collin County Regional Airport will receive more than $5 million in federal funding to design and engineer an additional runway and a new control tower after years of lobbying and discussing the issue with federal and state representatives.

The Texas Transportation Commission approved the funding Thursday at its regular meeting in Austin as part of a minute order that granted a total of $24,906,780 in federal funds to 16 Texas airports, according to TTC records.

Shown is an artist’s rendering of the new control tower Collin County Regional Airport hopes to start building next year.

CCRA will receive $5,655,556 for the runway and tower projects, the second-largest chunk of federal funding in the minute order behind the $8,233,094 approved for the Hereford Municipal Airport for pavement, lighting and electrical improvements. CCRA will also have to match 10 percent of the funding, according to the minute order.

Ken Wiegand, CCRA director, said about $4.91 million will go to the replacement runway project and the remaining $180,000 will go to the tower project for the initial design and engineering phases.

Wiegand said he hopes TTC’s grant will be the first in a series of grants for the airport’s planned projects. He estimated both projects could cost a total of $56 million over the next six to seven years.

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