FIXED BASED OPERATOR FOR CRESTVIEW AIRPORT IS ANNOUNCED

As you can see below, the Bob Sikes Airport is off and running. Having attend the announcement in person, it was very exciting to hear some of the initiatives the Airport has planned and the additional impact it will have on the economic growth of the Crestview area. To learn more about the Crestview Industrial Airpark, you can visit www.flycew.com.



Emerald Coast Aviation gets FBO job at Bob Sikes Airport
If the contract is finalized, the firm will replace Sunshine Aero
By BRIAN HUGHES Florida Freedom Newspapers

CRESTVIEW — After 28 years under Sunshine Aero Industries, Bob Sikes Airport has a new fixed-base operator. A selection committee heard presentations from Sunshine Aero and Emerald Coast Aviation on Aug. 6. After deliberating several days, the committee recommended to Okaloosa County Airports Director Greg Donovan on Monday that the contract be awarded to Emerald Coast Aviation, the fixedbase operator at DeFuniak Springs Municipal Airport. “We have many opportunities at Bob Sikes Airport and we need a company that will grow with us,” Donovan said. “Emerald Coast Aviation impressed us with their focus on customer service. “The services they are willing to provide, in the selection committee’s opinion, are a very good fit for the future of Bob Sikes Airport in that they see services that are not currently there,” Donovan said. “Somebody had to have a vision in combining these services. “Another thing that I thought Emerald Coast has insight to is bringing back the military fueling concession,” he added. Donovan praised Emerald Coast’s marketing proposal for the airport, which included investing $20,000 a year. Donovan said his office is negotiating the details of a 30-year lease the county proposes to offer Emerald Coast Aviation. He plans to present it to county commissioners Sept. 2. If approved, Emerald Coast Aviation will take over airport operations Jan. 2. Donovan acknowledged that the decision to choose Emerald Coast Aviation was a major disappointment to Robert Keller, president of Sunshine Aero. “We will be offering to facilitate building a new facility for them,” Donovan said. “Sunshine Aero’s military testing company is very important to the airport and to the area. We want to see them succeed,” Donovan said. “We want to see a smooth transition to allow him a sublease and a transition until he can build his own facilities,” he added. “Mr. Keller ultimately has to make those decisions on his own. We will encourage him to keep his operations in Crestview because he’s very important to us.” Introducing a new fixed base operator in uncertain financial times is a challenge, Donovan added. “We’re taking a bit of a risk with anybody that we’d be partnering with in a contract like this, but Emerald Coast has a very good conscientiousness in not just marketing, but in growing with us,” he said.