Tri-Cities airport looks to future of fixed-base operator services

BLOUNTVILLE — The Tri-Cities Airport Authority has a decision to make regarding the future of its fixed-base operator services at the Tri-Cities Airport.The TCAA opted to table its discussion on an FBO at its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday at the airport. An FBO is an organization that is approved by an airport to handle non-commercial aviation and provide services like fueling, hangaring, tie-down and aircraft maintenance among other duties. The Tri-Cities Airport has long worked with FBO service Tri-City Aviation. TCAA Executive Director Gene Cossey said on Thursday that the agreement with the aviation service expires in April — meaning the board needs to consider its short- and long-term options."What we need to do is decide what is the strategy going forward with providing long-term solutions to our FBO services here at the airport," Cossey said. "Nobody wants to operate on a one-year to one-year basis."In 2009, the long-term agreement between the airport and the aviation service switched to a five-year agreement. Since then, TCAA and Tri-Cities Aviation renewed the five-year agreement in 2015, opted for a one-year agreement in 2020, and another in 2021.Cossey suggested five FBO solutions moving forward. The Administration and Operations Committee recommended one option, that the TCAA consider a hybrid public-private partnership agreement that would allow the airport to enter a long-term agreement for general aviation terminal facilities and other responsibilities while partnering with developers or businesses for separate services and resources.Cossey's other suggestions included:• Making no change and sticking with a five-year agreement with Tri-City Aviation.• Entering into a management agreement. The airport would be responsible for its facilities, but an organization performs the management duties for a percentage off the top.• The airport self-manages FBO responsibilities. That option, Cossey said, would likely take large capital investments upfront and added liability — in addition to added staff, including an FBO director — but all revenue would go to the airport.• The airport enters a long-term operating agreement and issues a standard request for proposal that any third party, such as TCA, could respond to.TCAA Secretary/Treasurer J. Parker Smith said he felt the group needed more time to learn more about FBOs and consider long-term solutions."I'd like to understand them better," Parker said. "I think it may be premature of us to say, 'Let's focus just on this (hybrid) model.' I'm wondering if we don't need to back up a little bit. I don't know what I don't know about FBOs … I would like to have a little more conversation before we zero in on that."Cossey said he wasn't "overly excited" about the five-year agreements in the past and some competition within the process could produce better results."It puts most of the responsibility of maintenance cost on the airport and puts most of the financial reward on the company and that just isn't the right way to balance that. We need to look at a long-term solution."I believe these type of processes should be competitive. I think the competitive way is what eventually gets the airport the best solution for our long-term goals."Airport Authority Member Ken Maness said he felt Tri-Cities Aviation had been a good partner. And the group could still be the TCAA's FBO moving forward."We also need to consider the longevity and faithfulness they have had to this region," Maness said. "It's not like we're trying to run away from something that is just bad. We are trying to determine something that would serve us well in the future."Cossey's salary increasedIn other business, the TCAA also unanimously opted to increase Cossey's base salary by $22,500 on Thursday.The increase followed the director's evaluation, which, according to the airport's bylaws, is required annually. Chairman Todd Hensley said the compensation adjustment was based on that evaluation."In my opinion, we got exactly who we thought we hired and probably some more," Hensley said. "I think you've done an outstanding job getting us through a time that is painful but could have been horrible had we not had good leadership. That starts at the top."The $22,500 base salary increase is almost a 12% increase, bringing Cossey's salary to over $202,000 plus car allowance and other employee benefits. Cossey's base salary when he came on as the executive director in 2019 was set at $180,000.