On June 8, the new Austin Executive Airport (KEDC) and its Henriksen Jet Center FBO held a grand-opening celebration. The modern facility sits on land adjacent to what used to be tiny Bird’s Nest Airport about 15 miles northeast of downtown Austin, Texas. Austin Executive is the second airport that Ron Henriksen has built, using his own money and zero government funding to create facilities uniquely suited to general aviation operations. Henriksen’s first airport is Houston Executive, which opened in 2007 and features a Henriksen Jet Center FBO. Henriksen spent $33 million to buy the land and build Austin Executive Airport and the FBO.
Austin used to be served by the downtown Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, a combined commercial and general aviation field, and the smaller Austin Executive Airpark, but both closed more than 10 years ago, leaving the sole airport serving the city the new Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, occupying the site of the former Bergstrom Air Force Base. Coincidentally, before the Base Closure and Realignment Commission closed the Air Force base, Austin had already begun planning to build a new commercial airport in Manor, Texas, next door to Pflugerville, where the new Austin Executive Airport is located. That plan never came to pass, and while the Bergstrom facility was plenty large enough to handle Austin’s commercial needs it received many complaints from owners of general aviation aircraft who found the new airport too costly and lacking in facilities such as hangars.
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