Story ID: 062millionairHPN
Million Air Debuts New FBO at HPN
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: The FBO chain introduced its new stunning FBO with a gala opening night party featuring a performance by singer Chris Isaak.
Word Count: 511
The bar for FBOs at New York’s Westchester County Airport has been raised, after Million Air held the gala grand opening of its new facility at the New York-area business aviation hub at the end of February. The event featured a private hangar concert by singer Chris Isaak, and a mini static display with a Cessna M2, Longitude, Embraer Legacy 450, and a Bell 429 along with several luxury automobiles. It culminated 20 months of construction on the 29,000-sq-ft, two-story Adirondack-inspired building, the first new FBO terminal to be built at the airport in many years. “I really believe that we have advanced the facilities and experience at least two decades,“ said company president and CEO Roger Woolsey. “As a pilot myself, I travel all around the world, and we really tried to build and create something exceptional, a place that appropriately represents the sophisticated traveler and an environment not duplicated anywhere in the world.”

The facility includes a 7,000-sq-ft, four-lane, enclosed and climate-controlled porte-cochere, a staffed complimentary Starbucks coffee bar, three A/V-equipped conference rooms, six fireplaces, a pilot lounge with en suite showers and two snooze rooms, flight-planning area, a room-sized golf simulator, and 22 tenant offices, including a 4,000-sq-ft suite occupied by flight training provider Performance Flight. Of those offices, only two remain vacant, according to Woolsey.

“We have been working with the local county, literally for a decade,” he said, adding that the FBO’s local customers were solicited early in the planning process for the terminal as well. “We tried to blend some of the amenities and design of their favorite country clubs and hotels and have traveled from California to Mexico and New York to visit some of these facilities. We have put more planning into this facility than any FBO we have ever built.”

During an opening night tour, Woolsey described the details in the building’s construction to AIN, adding that it incorporates more than 25,000 pounds of locally quarried stone to achieve the rustic, yet elegant interior look. “Our goal was to make the FBO building a destination, as opposed to a place pilots and passengers pass through," he explained, noting how some of the very first passengers that came through the new facility loitered by one of the fireplaces in the great hall for nearly an hour. “When I asked the passengers if they needed any assistance or were waiting on anyone else they told me no,” said Woolsey. “Their pilot and aircraft were ready for departure; they simply loved the ambiance and wanted to relish it before their departure.”

The Houston-based company’s $80 million investment at HPN also included a new 52,000-sq-ft hangar, which was completed last May, and 100,000 sq ft of additional ramp space. The facility’s former 10,000-sq-ft terminal will be retained and converted into additional tenant space. To kick off a second phase of development at the location, Million Air is awaiting final approval to break ground on a new, 80,000-sq-ft hangar by the second quarter of the year.
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