Sometimes simple is better. That’s the philosophy Connecticut-based aviation services provider Key Air heeded when it designed its FBO at Minnesota’s Anoka County-Blaine Airport (ANE), near Minneapolis. In deference to local aesthetics the company avoided the use of shiny chrome and marble, relying instead on wood, stone and brick. The 12,000-sq-ft terminal, which opened in 2008 as part of the newly built $20+-million facility, features a spacious interior with a soaring ceiling. “When guests come in either from the street side or the ramp, the first thing they see is the floor-to-ceiling brickwork and floor-to-ceiling windows extending up about 30 feet,” said Bob Marinace, Key Air’s president and CEO. The lobby features a large fireplace that it shares with a separate customer lounge whose full-height windows look out onto the ramp, allowing waiting passengers to view their aircraft.
The facility offers 8,000 sq ft of office space in the form of eight tenant suites that provide flight departments with private offices and shop areas, each with separate access to the parking lot and the hangar. The 64,000-sq-ft heated hangar–which, with its 28-foot-high doors, can accommodate a Gulfstream V or a Bombardier Global–is currently filled to capacity. “We’ve done a good job of getting airport market share for based tenants,” said Marinace. “What we are doing now is really promoting the airport to transient traffic as an alternative to Minneapolis-St. Paul International [MSP].”
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