Story ID: 405ClayLacy
Clay Lacy Bets Big on New FBOs
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: California-based Clay Lacy Aviation is investing $136 million in a pair of FBOs on either side of the U.S.
Word Count: 697
Clay Lacy Aviation is currently involved in two major projects that represent a major investment by the Los Angeles-based company and will vastly increase the scope of its operations.

In December, it expects to break ground on its new permanent FBO at John Wayne-Orange County Airport (KSNA). In August, 2020 Clay Lacy (Booth 4800) was selected to replace Atlantic Aviation as a service provider at the airport and has since operated from a temporary facility at KSNA.

The new $95 million complex will be built in two phases, with the first consisting of a new terminal and a pair of 37,800-sq-ft hangars, which is expected to open early in 2024. The second phase, due for completion by mid-2025, will add a pair of 35,000-sq-ft hangars.

Those new hangars will be built with an eye toward future-proofing them for larger aircraft and taller tails. “If you look at every manufacturer, the planes that they are making today are substantially larger than they were 20 years ago, and a lot of the hangars that were built in the past are not big enough to accommodate the latest, largest business jets,” said Scott Cutshall, the company’s senior v-p of development and sustainability. The under-development Dassault Falcon 10X will have a tail height of 27 feet 7 inches.

Yet, under current NFPA guidelines, Group 2 (business aviation) hangars can’t exceed the current 28-foot-high door opening limit without being placed into Group 1 and its more complex fire-protection requirements.

“We’re planning to have 29-foot doors,” said Cutshall. “We’re building in a valance that will be able to be removed at a later time, so the opening will be 28 feet until such time as the industry is able to convince the authorities to make changes.”

On the other side of the country, Clay Lacy has already begun construction on its facility at Waterbury-Oxford Airport (KOXC) in Connecticut. That location is expected to come online in early 2024 and will feature a total of 120,000 sq ft of hangar space, which when complete, will help alleviate the region’s shortage of aircraft shelter.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about new hangars being built in White Plains, new hangars being built in Teterboro, and other airports in the surrounding area, but this is really happening, said David “Buddy” Blackburn, Clay Lacy’s senior v-p for KOXC FBO operations. “The buildings are going up, so that’s a big deal for the Northeast for sure.”

The facility’s four 40,000-sq-ft hangars will also feature 29-foot-high doors, but unlike the KSNA location, Clay Lacy already has a waiver for them from the local building officials based on winter snow load deflection on the hangar roof and the increasing tail heights.

The company already operates an FAA Part 145 repair station at Oxford, based out of a 50,000-sq-ft hangar in the Atlantic Aviation complex. It has not yet decided if it will relocate it into its own facility once it opens.

Combined, the two locations represent an investment of $136 million by the company, and, as both are in high-demand areas, they are starting to attract tenants. At KOXC it already has letters of intent from the operators of four large Gulfstreams and two Bombardier Globals and expects to field more inquiries this week at NBAA-BACE 2022. According to Cutshall, the facilities will be among the first FBOs to incorporate charging infrastructure for eVTOL and electric aircraft in their designs.

Though the opening of either location is months if not years away, the company has already established scholarship programs with local aviation education institutions, to attract talent.

At its two existing FBOs in California, Clay Lacy receives continuous supplies of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from World Fuel and is on track to sell more than 200,000 gallons this year. “The plan is that we will offer SAF at Oxford as it becomes commercially available,” Cutshall told AIN. “It’s the future of our industry, it’s the right thing to do. More and more people are buying it, and as production and availability increases, I think adoption will continue to increase.”