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

Tucson Jet Center has had a presence at Arizona’s Tucson International Airport (KTUS) for more than three decades, starting out as a flight school and charter provider before transitioning to FBO services. Amanda Lawver, its current owner, began there as a weekend CSR back in 1999, and 20 years later she bought it.
“The first thing I did was I gutted the entire place from top to bottom,” she told AIN. “This place hadn’t been updated since 2003, so needless to say, it needed a facelift.” The cost of the renovation to the 3,000-sq-ft terminal was half a million dollars. It offers a coffee and refreshment bar, pilot lounge with snooze room and flight planning area, shower facilities, a theater room, six-seat a/v equipped conference room, and business center. Valet parking is available, as are complementary car washes for based customers. “That’s become a lot more popular,” Lawver said. “A lot of people ask for certain things to be done, and we do take care of it for them if they are our regular customers.”
When Lawver took over control of the facility, it had just two hangars totaling 18,000 sq ft, but in 2021, she acquired two additional 10,000-sq-ft hangars and a third last year. Capable of sheltering the latest ultra-long-range business jets, they are home to 20 turbine-powered airplanes ranging from a Bombardier Challenger 604 to a pair of Daher TBM turboprop singles.
The World Fuel-branded location is also a member of the World Fuel-sponsored Air Elite Network in addition to being the CAA-preferred FBO on the field since 2019.
Its fuel farm can store 10,000 gallons of jet-A and the same amount of avgas. It is served by the FBO’s six 5,000-gallon refuelers, one of which is dedicated to carrying 100LL. Lawver noted the FBO pumps approximately 2.5 million gallons a year, and claims 40 percent of the business and general aviation traffic that is seen by the four FBOs at KTUS. “We don’t charge the excessive fees,” said Lawver. “Overnight fees, parking fees, security fees, infrastructure fees; the only fee that we charge is the airport landing fee, and that’s because we have to because that’s due to the airport.”
<h2>Small Is Beautiful</h2>
That is one reason for the location’s popularity; the other is something the major chains just can’t offer. “Every single person who comes through here, I know on a personal level because everybody saw me grow up here,” explained Lawver. “This is a family-run operation, the CSR is my sister, the line guy is my brother, we’re known for being family-owned and -operated, and the people generally like that.”
That situation has helped differentiate the company’s customer service. “Being a smaller FBO and not corporately-owned, we want to focus on the smaller details of everything,” said Lawver. That includes remembering customer names, preferences, or even which pets they travel with.&nbsp;
The facility—which has a staff of 14 NATA Safety 1st-trained&nbsp;employees—is open every day from 5:30 a.m. until 10 p.m., with after-hours callout available. That tracks with the schedule of the airport’s U.S Customs facility, which is available with advance notice every day from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Peak season at KTUS lasts from September 1 through the end of April. The city’s world-renowned annual gem and mineral show is in February, and customers begin making reservations months in advance for the two-week event. &nbsp;“In this town, you will not get a hotel, you will not get a car, you will get nothing here if you are not set up months in advance,” said Lawver. She noted the FBO can expect 20 to 25 flights a day during the first week when the “heavy hitters” arrive, some flying internationally. “During that week, we can easily sell 100,000 gallons of fuel,” she said.&nbsp;
To accommodate those transient aircraft, the FBO expects to add another 25,000 acres of ramp to its existing 224,000 sq ft in the next two years.

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