Story ID: 
Propeller Airports Buys Seattle FBO
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: Washington State-based airport development and management company Propeller Airports has purchased Castle & Cooke’s FBO at Seattle-area Paine Field.
Word Count: 238
Washington State-based airport development and management company Propeller Airports has purchased Castle & Cooke’s FBO at Seattle-area Snohomish County Airport (KPAE), which is also known as Paine Field. In conjunction with the acquisition, the company has launched a new subsidiary, Propeller Aero Services, that will operate the facility and focus on FBO development.

Propeller—which designed, built, and operates the recently-opened commercial terminal at KPAE—intends to build a new $20 million FBO terminal and hangar complex there. With ground-breaking slated for mid-2022, plans call for a 12,000-sq-ft terminal featuring a passenger lobby with fireplace, 20-seat conference room, pilot lounge with snooze room, in-house catering kitchen, theater room, concierge service, and crew cars. Propeller expects to renovate the existing 5,000 sq ft terminal, which it will dedicate to light general aviation traffic after the new facility opens.

The company also plans to construct a 40,000-sq-ft heated hangar at the airport. When combined with an existing hangar, this will give the location 50,000 sq ft of hangar space capable of sheltering aircraft up to a Bombardier Global 7500.

Propeller CEO Brett Smith said the acquisition "makes a tremendous amount of sense given our understanding of the airport and our home market.” Castle & Cooke will retain its FBOs at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu and at Los Angeles-area Van Nuys Airport. The deal is expected to close by the end of November.