For its entire history of more than eight decades, Hampton Roads Executive Airport (KPVG) has been privately owned and has endured bankruptcy twice. That trend was reversed in 2000 when the original principals of Virginia Aviation Associates purchased its 230 acres and then the following year acquired an additional 400 acres, paving the way for expansion. “Being a privately-owned airport, we own everything vertically, so to speak,” explained majority owner Steve Fox, adding that KPVG is a public-use reliever airport for nearby Norfolk International. “We own all the land, all the buildings, and the FBO.”
Now a family business, the new ownership embarked on an aggressive development program, with Phase 1 consisting of many improvements to the airport, including the construction of a new 5,350-foot-long, 100-foot-wide runway, which can handle aircraft up to Boeing Business Jets. It was built parallel to the former 4,000-foot-long, 75-foot-wide main runway, which was simultaneously lengthened and repaved to become the full-length taxiway, and both feature new lighting. A new terminal was built along with a dozen hangars, and the airport was hooked up to the public sewer system. All told, it amounted to a $55 million project.
The 6,800-sq-ft terminal features a large lounge/passenger lobby, 20-seat conference room, pilot lounge with snooze room, kitchenette, office space, concierge, crew cars, and a porte-cochère. The FBO also offers mail service/package acceptance for its tenants.
Phase 2 of development includes a quintet of 12,000-sq-ft hangars, the last of which will be occupied this month. Capable of sheltering ultra-long-range business jets, they bring the facility to more than 500,000 sq ft of aircraft shelter. It is home to 23 turbine-powered aircraft ranging from a Pilatus PC-12 to a Cessna Citation Sovereign.
The second phase of development at the Titan Aviation Fuels-branded FBO will also feature a second fuel farm with self-service access. When combined with the existing tanks, it will give the airport a capacity of 32,000 gallons of jet-A and the same amount of avgas, served by a pair of jet refuelers and a 100LL truck.
Another component of the $10 million project was a washrack, which according to Fox now permits the airport to host military helicopter squadrons during extensive training periods since those aircraft require frequent cleaning when operating in the offshore marine environment.
The company expects to break ground next month on $10 million Phase 3, which will include a 36,000-sq-ft hangar complex, built to attract an AAM manufacturer as a flight test and research facility.
“We are preparing the airport to transition into the next 20 years of alternative fuels,” explained Fox, adding that it already has an electric airplane charging station. “We’re also looking at putting in a public electric charging station [as well as] a hydrogen production plant, so we would have not only avgas and jet fuel and electric, we’d also have hydrogen fuel here.”
With its staff of 13, the non-towered airport—which sees nearly 90,000 operations a year—is open 24/7, but the FBO is only staffed from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m., with after-hours callouts available. Two of the unique staffers at the FBO are its "chief petting officers," Buddy and Victoria, who accompany Steve and his wife Bee, as well as their son Luke—KPVG’s managing engineer/director of finance—to work every day and spend their time in the terminal spreading good cheer to customers. “When people fly in on a stressful work trip, or have inclement weather or whatever, to be able to come in and relax and play with a pet and feel like they are at home, that is more or less our philosophy to running the FBO side,” the elder Fox told AIN.
The airport serves the entire Hampton Roads region, sitting near six cities. Fox noted that more than 100 federal agencies are located within 30 miles, as are more than 10 million sq ft of warehousing for the Port of Virginia, which has seen a surge in operations in the aftermath of the Baltimore Bridge disaster.
One of the airport’s recent highlights came when KPVG hosted a visit by President Biden. More than 200 armed secret service agents scoured the facility, and on the day of the visit, three V-22 Ospreys carrying the White House press corps accompanied the two helicopters, one of which was Marine One. “We as a team had to be ready for that,” said Fox, adding that the FBO’s ventilation systems were tested ahead of time. “All of the blinds had to be lowered in all of the offices and hangars, all of the hangar doors had to be lowered, and none of our tenants could be milling around. It was an interesting ordeal to go through, but it was quite nice to see that whoever the president happens to be is quite secure.”