Hastings Municipal Airport gets FBO

Pilots flying in and out of the Hastings Municipal Airport will now have more services offered to them.

The Hastings City Council approved an agreement with Meyers Aviation to be a fixed base operator, also known as FBO, at the airport.

The new service will be called Hastings Air. One of the main things they'll now offer is fuel services. Before, pilots had to fill their tanks themselves. Now, there will be someone available 24/7 to help fill up the planes.

This part is especially useful for pilots flying EMS helicopters.

"It can mean really the difference for up to 15 or 20 minutes in time efficiency, and when there's lives on the line that means a lot," said Thorsten Heller, a pilot for Midwest MedAir.

Midwest MedAir has a hanger at the Hastings airport. Heller said sometimes he might fly the helicopter to emergency situations three times in just 24 hours.

He said it'll be helpful if they can call people ahead of time to be at the ready to fuel up the helicopter before they land.

"It can in the worst case scenario mean exactly the difference between life or death. So every minute counts, yes," Heller said.

MedAir isn't the only one excited about the fueling service.

One man has been flying planes since the late 1990s.

Paul Dunning, owner of Papa Ray's Pizza, is a flight instructor in the Tri-Cities, and frequently uses the Hastings airport.

He said the new FBO will help grow his business and the pilot shortage in the area.

"There'll be pilots that will find out that there's things that are going on in Hastings instead of being an airport that you would pass over, because there was nothing going on here, nobody to come out and greet you, nobody to fill your airplane," Dunning said. "It'll start bringing Hastings back into the spotlight of an airport that it is, and it's a wonderful airport."

Mayor Corey Stutte said the city had been working with the Airport Advisory Board for several years to bring a FBO to Hastings.

One man is a member of that board, and said he's been flying for about 20 years.

He said he flies out of the Hastings Airport at least once a week, and said the new service will be useful for his twin engine aircraft.

"An aircraft like that you don't always pull it over to the pump, shut it off and fuel it up like you would a car," said Aaron Schardt. "So typical larger aircrafts have trucks that come in and fuel the aircraft for you. And then the truck can go to the airplane rather than the airplane going to the pumps. So that's going to be a big help for me."

There use to be a FBO in Hastings about ten years ago. Now that it's back there will be 24/7 service available for pilots.

Other services that will now be offered as part of Hastings Air will include courtesy vehicles for flyers, pilot supplies, and hangers to house planes.

The mayor said this service will be beneficial for the city in addition to the pilots.

"I think that we will see an increase of planes stopping through Hastings. Not only will that be positive for fuel sales for Meyers Aviation, but it'll also be positive for the city of Hastings. The more visitors we can get to Hastings, the more they'll spend within our community. So we hope to see that happen," Mayor Stutte said.

Luke Meyers, operator of the FBO, said he's planning to get it running by March 1.

He said in the long term he also hopes to provide maintenance services and planes for people to rent.