- SkyShare is the new fixed-base operator for South Valley Regional Airport.
- The company plans to build 50 T hangars and a large community box hangar, as part of its plans for the airport.
- Renovations and rebranding will start soon with a grand opening this fall.
WEST JORDAN — Salt Lake County's other airport is poised to receive a major makeover with the help of a private aviation company that already has a growing presence in the state.
SkyShare will serve as the new fixed base operator at South Valley Regional Airport, the Salt Lake City Department of Airports announced on Thursday. The agreement calls on the company to operate the West Jordan airport's full-service private, business and other aviation operations, as well as hangar and office leasing, and development across the property's 650,000 square feet.
The deal also allows SkyShare to expand hangar space at the airport, said Bill Wyatt, the department's director. The company, which obtained a similar agreement in Ogden in 2015, plans to begin building 50 new T hangars and a large community box hangar this year, with additional expansion plans beyond that.
Renovations and an airport rebranding are expected to begin soon, with a grand opening planned for this fall.
"We welcome SkyShare as the new FBO operator at South Valley Regional Airport and look forward to their ability to bring additional hangar capacity to the airport," Wyatt said in a statement. "(The airport) is a diamond in the rough with an incredible potential for future growth and development."
The department owns Salt Lake City International Airport, as well as South Valley Regional and Tooele Valley airports. Salt Lake City International Airport, which dealt with over 28.1 million fliers last year, pulls in the most traffic, but the other two help deliver charter jets, emergency services, recreational flying and educational flying services for the Salt Lake and Tooele valleys.
Expanding its infrastructure — such as immediately diving into a long-standing shortage of hangar space — could help allow the South Valley Regional Airport to become a "highly efficient and cost-effective alternative" to larger commercial airports while remaining in the Salt Lake area, Salt Lake City airport officials and SkyShare executives say.
The company began as an aviation brokerage firm in 2009, helping people buy and sell airplanes. But it's grown to include many more services, as Cory Bengtzen, the company's founder and CEO, explained on the company's website. It secured a fixed-base operator agreement with Ogden in 2015 and with the Bay Area in California two years later.
Obtaining similar responsibilities in West Jordan feels like a homecoming, Bengtzen said on Thursday, noting that he learned to fly and kept his first airplane at South Valley Regional Airport. He said he wants to address the airport's hangar shortage and remodel its fixed-base operator facility, as his company seeks to improve access to the airport and eliminate "long waitlists."
Jared Esselman, former director of the Utah Division of Aeronautics, will oversee the airport's day-to-day operations amid the upcoming renovations.
"(South Valley Regional) is an essential part of Utah's aviation system," he said. "This airport has the potential to be a true gem in the Salt Lake Valley and presents SkyShare with an opportunity to improve the experience for pilots and tenants and build an airport that better serves the local community as a whole."
