A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Business Aviation Services Editor

Curt Epstein

It’s been a busy year of development for Hollingshead Aviation, one of two service providers at Tennessee’s Smyrna Airport (KMQY). The company, which has operated from the former Smyrna Air Center facility for seven years, has made several upgrades to its property.
Hollingshead is about to wrap up a six-month renovation project at its two-decade-old, 12,000-sq-ft, two-story terminal. Completely gutted and remodeled, the terminal is expected to be finished by the end of the year and will include a pair of 10-seat conference rooms, a pilot lounge with showers, a media room, a flight planning area/business center, and a marble tiled passenger lobby with fireplace.
Brenda Fields, the FBO’s director, looks forward to the project’s completion. “I think people are going to be very impressed when they walk in, not only with the facility, and the commitment the owners have made, but the fact that what they are providing is all geared toward making the customers comfortable,” she told AIN.
The FBO offers crew cars, a passenger van, concierge service, and rental car deliveries to the terminal via Avis, Hertz, and Enterprise.
In October, the company completed two 60,000-sq-ft heated hangars near its terminal on the west side of the field. Capable of sheltering the latest ultra-long-range business jets, they bring the complex's hangar space to 210,000 sq ft. Plans call for the addition of another three 30,000-sq-ft hangars over the next several years.
The FBO’s leasehold includes 18 acres on the west side of the field and an additional 22 acres on the east. Business jets and transient aircraft are generally handled on the west side, while the majority of the company’s based piston aircraft as well as the facility’s cargo-hauling tenants are on the east side. The airport is five miles from a major Nissan auto plant, and there is a brisk business in the parts delivery sector.
Hollingshead’s Avfuel-supplied underground fuel farm is on the east side of the field and holds 16,400 gallons of jet-A and 14,000 gallons of avgas. However, another improvement underway is the relocation of its fuel storage to a new tank complex on the west side. The above-ground fuel farm with a capacity of 40,000 gallons of jet fuel and 15,000 gallons of 100LL is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2024, at which time the east-side fuel facility will be decommissioned. In addition to a 5,000-gallon jet-A refueler and two 1,000-gallon avgas trucks—one of which is permanently stationed on the east side of the field—the operator plans to install self-serve avgas fueling stations on both sides of the field.
Open every day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. with after-hours callouts available, the FBO has 24 employees. Fields noted that while summer is the peak season for the business, increasing traffic has reached the point where operations are steady all year. KMQY is centrally located and provides a good tech stop for aircraft transiting between Florida and points north. As a result, the line service, which is trained using the fuel provider’s in-house training program, specializes in quick turns.
“We work very closely as a team to make things comfortable for our customers and make sure they are taken care of,” Fields said. “We try to make it a very positive experience for them. They enjoy coming in and we enjoy having them.”
Located just 14 miles from Nashville, the heart of the country music world, the airport attracts a fair number of A-list performers. “We see a lot of celebrities,” said Fields. “They are very down-to-earth and they enjoy it because we treat them like they are normal people, and they are.”
The FBO complex has been the setting for music videos, and its hangars have hosted more than just aircraft, with weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, and even graduation photo shoots taking place there. "We’re kind of an all-around type of facility,” explained Fields. “We’re open to all types of events.”
The FBO recently hosted gatherings for the Daher TBM and Cessna Citation owners associations that attracted dozens of aircraft. Once every two years, it handles all the civilian aircraft and performers for the Great Tennessee Airshow, which takes place at KMQY.

New developments at FBOs including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

Hollingshead Aviation at Tennessee's Smyrna Airport Is Upgrading Facilities

Hollingshead Aviation at Tennessee's Smyrna Airport is on a building spree

Hollingshead Aviation, one of two service providers at Tennessee’s Smyrna Airport, has made several upgrades to its property this year.

Nashville-area FBO Has Many Irons in the Fire

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

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