Story ID: Avionics Sales Numbers Drop in Third Quarter
FBO Profile: Gary Jet Center
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: Indiana Airport offers easy access to Chicago
Word Count: 959
While the Chicago Cubs’ winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years was an answer to the prayers of many in the Windy City, for the local business aviation service providers, the conquest of the Cleveland Indians in the seven-game fall classic proved a bonus. “Our biggest bump was for the Cleveland flights, people leaving to go to those games,” said Lynn Eplawy, managing partner of the Gary Jet Center, one of two FBOs at Gary/Cleveland International Airport (GYY). “We definitely got some aircraft coming in for the home games, but we got a lot more aircraft departing to go to the games in Cleveland. Certainly games six and seven saw a lot of traffic leaving here.”

The family-owned Gary Jet Center is celebrating its 25th year in operation this year. A former Million Air franchise, the FBO was purchased in 1991 by Wil Davis, who manages it today.

GYY itself has experienced something of a renaissance of late. Located just across the state line in Gary, Ind., the airport last year completed a $174 million runway expansion that was 15 years in the making and required the relocation of a major railway line. The project saw the airport’s main runway extended to nearly 9,000 feet from 7,000 feet, making it more attractive to international operators heading to the Chicago area. For now, the name Gary/Chicago International is a bit of a misnomer, as the airport has not had U.S. Customs service since after the terror attacks in 2001. Arriving international aircraft must first clear at other airports, yet that should change next year with the anticipated opening of a $1.2 million stand-alone U.S. Customs facility.

Since the expansion, the airport, which is situated in Class D airspace, separate from the congestion of O’Hare and Midway, has noted a 15-percent climb in traffic, according to airport officials. “What it has done is put the news of Gary Airport back into conversation,” Eplawy told AIN. “We’ve seen some uptick in travel just from transient traffic, nothing that couldn’t have already landed here, but it was great just being able to talk about the airport again and get some great news around the airport back out.”
Facility Expansion Planned
Gary Jet Center has 40 based turbine aircraft, ranging from a Global to a Meridian. It is also home to the first HondaJet delivered in the United States, and another is expected soon.

The facility is open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, with call-out service available at no fee to based customers. It has 115,000 sq ft of heated hangar space, which can accommodate the latest class of ultra-long-range business aircraft. The newest, 40,000 sq ft “hangar three” was certified to Leed gold standard in 2014. The company recently purchased another 43,560-sq-ft hangar complex, which is leased entirely to one company. Its 4,000-sq-ft terminal is part of the facility’s original hangar and features a pilots’ lounge, flight-planning room, quiet/snooze room, a pair of A/V-equipped conference rooms (seating eight and 14 people), crew cars and onsite car rental.

While the company has kept up on the 40-year-old facility, it is planning to break ground next year on a $2 million terminal attached to hangar three. At 7,000 sq ft, it will be nearly twice the size of the existing terminal, which will be kept for tenant offices, and expansion of the maintenance department.

The location has two Part 145 certificates, one for its Boeing maintenance division. “We have 19 employees who work entirely for the Boeing Company’s Executive Flight Operations teams on their fleet of BBJs and Challengers,” said Eplawy. “We have had the contract to provide based maintenance, flight tech maintenance on international trips and fuelings since Boeing brought its flight department to GYY after moving company headquarters to Chicago in 2001.” The other certificate covers the location’s transient traffic as well as its managed fleet, which encompasses 11 jets ranging in size from a GIV to a Citation Mustang, most of them enrolled on Gary Jet’s Part 135 charter certificate.

The FBO, which claims the lion’s share of the aircraft servicing business at GYY, pumps two million gallons of fuel a year. It has a 92,000-gallon tank farm capable of storing 80,000 gallons of jet-A. In addition to 100LL, the location became a distributor for Swift Fuels’ new unleaded avgas in July, with a 1,500-gallon truck dedicated to the fuel. The remainder of its tanker fleet consists of four jet fuel tankers ranging from 8,000 to 2,400 gallons, and a 1,500-gallon 100LL refueler, operated by the location’s NATA Safety 1st-trained line staff. The facility has also held a U.S. government fueling contract for the past two decades and plays host to the annual Gary Airshow. It offers Type I and IV de-icing, and aircraft cleaning and detailing.

Unusual among FBOs, Gary Jet has four airstairs, making it able to accommodate commercial aircraft up to a 747, a feature that was put to use when Air Force One visited. Located just half an hour from downtown Chicago, the airport also provides a direct train link to the city, with a station just off the airport property.

Other benefits to Chicagoland travelers include low fuel prices (Indiana does not charge sales tax on aviation fuel) and landing fees, as well as a provision in Indiana law barring sales tax on aviation parts installed by the state’s Part 145 repair stations.

Eplawy also adds customer service as one of the location’s selling points. “We’re just a great group of people who take our customers seriously and make sure their experience is how they prefer it to be.”