Story ID: 
Avflight Opens New Motor City FBO
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: It’s the first new facility on the field in six decades
Word Count: 240
Avflight has inaugurated its new FBO at Detroit Coleman A. Young International Airport (KDET) with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Avfuel sister company—the lone service provider on the field—has had a presence at KDET since 2011, previously occupying 3,500 sq ft of space in the airport’s 53,000-sq-ft 1950s-era former commercial aviation terminal. That building will reopen this fall as Detroit’s Davis Aerospace Technical High School.
The new complex offers a 5,000-sq-ft terminal featuring an open-concept lobby with a fireplace, pilot lounge, two snooze rooms, a six-seat conference room, and private tenant offices. It also includes a 20,000-sq-ft heated hangar capable of sheltering the latest ultra-long-range business jets—bringing the location up to 44,000 sq ft of aircraft shelter—and an attached 1,400-sq-ft heated indoor vehicle parking garage.
According to Detroit mayor Mary Sheffield, the FBO is the first facility to be built at the airport in the past 60 years. Among the recent improvements at the field are a $3.5 million runway rehabilitation project, LED taxiway lighting upgrades, installation of an engineered materials arresting system, and a new control tower.
“When we broke ground on this project at the end of last June, we saw tremendous potential in Detroit and this airport,” said Joe Meszaros, Avflight’s senior v-p of operations. “This facility provides the modern services and amenities operators expect while reinforcing our long-term commitment to Detroit’s growth and potential.”