Empire Air lands in CdA – County lures firm from Spokane with promise of fast-built hangar

Empire Airlines mechanic Craig Brown and his co-workers will soon be moving to Empire Airlines’ new home in Coeur d’Alene.

Brian Carpenter gestured toward an ATR-42 turbo prop, a vivid illustration of why Empire Airlines needs more space.

Becky Kramer
Staff writer

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=022604&ID=s1492514&cat=section.business

The plane is squeezed into the company’s Spokane maintenance hangar like a hawk in a bird cage. Its 80-foot wingspan nearly brushes the hangar’s side walls, and its tail sticks out the back. Not ideal conditions for a overhauling an airplane.

"We’ve simply outgrown this," said Carpenter, Empire’s maintenance manager. "I’m looking forward to the next hangar."

The company’s next maintenance hangar will be located at the Coeur d’Alene Airport, a coup for North Idaho officials.

Empire will anchor a $5.3 million expansion of the airport’s north end, a 200-acre development that will immediately bring 40 of Empire’s maintenance jobs to Coeur d’Alene from Spokane, and could eventually lure other aviation-related companies to Kootenai County. The project means so much to county officials that they’re working feverishly to finish the work by August, when Empire wants to move in.

Empire desperately needs the new space. The company is a regional carrier for Federal Express in 13 Western states and Canada. It’s in the midst of retrofitting a fleet of former passenger planes, the ATR-42s, to carry cargo for Fed-Ex.

"The project kind of forced us into making a decision about a new maintenance facility," said Tim Komberec, Empire’s president.

Even with a second hangar at the Spokane International Airport, the company is short of space. Planes in various states of overhaul are squeezed into the two hangars — wheels off, engines out and the innards of wings exposed. Some of the conversion work is being done in Canada and Missouri because Empire doesn’t have enough room at its existing facility.

The new hangar in Coeur d’Alene will accommodate four planes at once, but the checklist to build it by August is formidable.

The hangar will occupy undeveloped ground north of the Coeur d’Alene Airport. To provide access to the site, Lancaster and Atlas roads must be extended. Utilities must be laid under the runway. A new taxiway is needed, not to mention construction of the hangar itself.

"It would be a nice 18- to 24-month project," said Greg Delavan, Coeur d’Alene Airport manager. "We started the project with seven months, and now we’re down to six."

"I’m not sure it’s ever been done in Idaho this fast," said Dick Panabaker, chairman of the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners.

But had Kootenai County hesitated, Empire would have built in Spokane, Panabaker said. The two airports competed aggressively for Empire’s maintenance facility last December, with the state of Idaho offering a $3.5 million package toward the development of the airport’s north end.

If Empire had built in Spokane, the company’s corporate offices in Coeur d’Alene would likely have moved across the border.

"It certainly created a sense of urgency on our part," said Jim Deffenbaugh, executive director of the Panhandle Area Council. "They’re an Idaho corporation. We want to see retention of one of our premier companies. For them to leave would have been pretty bad."

Komberec said both airports offered competitive proposals. "You can’t imagine the lists I had, the pros and cons we weighed."

In the end, the decision came down to intangibles, he said: "Damn it, we’re an Idaho company!"

The August deadline is crucial because Empire wants to move its maintenance operation before the cold weather hits. The company also will move its corporate offices from Government Way to a building adjoining the hangar. The timeline for that move is October or November.

Deffenbaugh called the project’s timeline ambitious, but manageable. "The contractor said we can do it," he said.

Panhandle Area Council will build the $3.6 million hangar-office complex, and lease the buildings to Empire. The bid went out shortly after Empire announced that it had chosen Coeur d’Alene.

Other parts of the project also are moving along, Delavan said. Lakes Highway District is already prepping part of Lancaster Road for paving this spring.

State, local and federal money will pay for the airport’s northside expansions. According to the Idaho Department of Commerce, state and federal grants will pick up about $2.1million toward the development. Local governments are chipping in $608,000, and a portion of the new Empire complex will be financed with loans. "We could have built the Empire project with a minimum extension of utilities," Delavan said. But by spending the $5.3million, the airport prepares for growth on a 200-acre site.

"This helps us get to the other side of the runway … It helps us plan for the future," he said.

Deffenbaugh said several other companies, including a propeller firm, have already expressed interest in the airport’s northside development. To locate there, the companies require access to an airstrip.

Komberec, a member of the Coeur d’Alene Airport’s board of directors, said he shares the airport’s vision.

Empire wants to expand into doing maintenance work for other airlines. Komberec expects to hire another 40 workers at the company’s maintenance facility over the next several years.

"Right now, there’s nothing out there but fields," he said.

•Becky Kramer can be reached at (208) 765-7122 or by e-mail at [email protected].