PUGET SOUND BUSINESS JOURNAL (SEATTLE) (February 25, 2008) Castle & Cooke Aviation Inc. is developing the first high-end base for corporate jets at Snohomish County's Paine Field, with plans to open the swanky facility in 2009.
The development will lift Paine Field into full competition with King County's Boeing Field for the lucrative corporate jet market.
"This is a huge step, a major upgrade in quality and the standard of services we operate here," said Dave Waggoner, airport manager at Paine Field, about the Castle & Cooke venture. "This is the kind of service that will be used by CEOs and leaders of major companies."
The first phase of the project will be built on 24 acres Castle & Cooke Aviation has leased on the west edge of Paine Field. There the company will build a 40,000-square-foot hangar, and another 16,000 square feet of offices and amenities for corporate jet travelers, with a second phase to follow.
Castle & Cooke Aviation, headquartered in Van Nuys, Calif., is considered a leader in upscale facilities for corporate jets, called "fixed-base operations," or FBOs in aviation lingo. The company is owned by Los Angeles-based Castle & Cooke Inc., a $38 million real estate and development company, according to Dun & Bradstreet Inc. It is owned by David H. Murdock, and among other activities operates luxury resorts in Hawaii and Southern California.
Steve Friedmann, executive vice president at Castle & Cooke Aviation, said the Paine Field facility will include a formal lobby and customer lounge, two meeting rooms, sleeping areas, a commercial kitchen, and possibly a gym.
He said business clients and aircraft owners of means should expect a "very upscale" environment, similar to the Hawaii resorts Castle & Cooke operates in a partnership with the Four Seasons hotel chain.
Friedmann said the company is now designing the facility and getting permits, and hopes to start construction this spring. Meanwhile, Castle & Cooke already is operating at a more rudimentary level at Paine Field through the Everett Jet Center, which it bought in December. The center, a small fixed-base operation with few amenities that has been at Paine Field for 35 years, will be replaced by the new construction.
"Our timing was just fortuitous," Friedmann said. "For many years they felt that a larger facility and a nicer facility would be warranted, but they didn't have financial resources to build the facility that we imagined."
The Puget Sound region's relatively strong economic numbers drew the company, Friedmann said. "We think Seattle and the region are well-positioned for strong growth," he said. "The strong economy, and the strong business forecast for the Pacific Northwest for the foreseeable future, points to strong demand for facilities like Castle & Cooke."
The strong economy means that jet owners' demand for space is far outstripping regional supply, Friedmann said, adding that his company's analysis was that 85 private jets already operate from the Puget Sound area, with 60 percent to 70 percent of those at Boeing Field.
Friedmann added that the Federal Aviation Administration's growth projection for corporate jets, 6 percent annually through 2017, suggests that another 50 to 60 jets will need an operational base in coming years.
"There's obviously a finite amount of space at Boeing Field. Our understanding is there's still strong demand for hangars, and that's not being met," he said. "We're looking for a strong demand from jet owners, we're seeing that in the region, and we think Paine is going to be the airport of the future for the Seattle area."
Boeing Field Airport Director Bob Burke concurred on the space shortage, saying that his airport, also known as King County International Airport, currently has a waiting list of 100 aircraft owners seeking hangar space. Not all of these are owners of corporate jets; they include owners of smaller, propellor aircraft.
"They have land to develop while we don't," Burke said of Paine Field. "If we had 20 acres, we could do something with it."
The shortage also has attracted other would-be participants in the market. In 2006 Renton Municipal Airport started a process to attract a fixed-base operator to draw aircraft from Boeing Field. That initiative foundered because of neighborhood resistance.
"The hangars over there are full, there's not a lot of real estate to develop on," said Renton airport Manager Ryan Zulauf about Boeing Field.
While Paine Field has the disadvantage of longer drive times from Seattle and the Eastside than does Boeing Field, Friedmann said he expects that will be offset by the amenities his company will offer and by the covered storage for aircraft. A 40,000-square-foot hangar can hold four or five larger aircraft such as Boeing Business Jets, which are based on the 737, or up to 10 smaller aircraft such as Learjets, he said.