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The flight school occupied the large white building in the center, and the fuel farm is located between the Boeing airplanes and the propeller airplanes.
April 21 update: Vesper Aviation raised a concern at tonight’s Council Meeting regarding the informal process used to award this lease, but the lease was nevertheless approved by Council. See my April 21 comment on this post for details.
When Renton Airport management squeezed Rainier Flight Services off Renton Field in January, they eliminated an important fuel supplier along with the important and successful flight school.
Rainier Flight Services was one of only two public fuel suppliers on our airport. Installing fire-safe and environmentally-safe aircraft refueling tanks is not trivial, so this reduced the fueling options and hurt aircraft operators.
Renton’s Airport Management is now suggesting a solution to the near-term refueling issue, in the form of a new lease to BosAir, the parent company of Ace Aviation.
According to a Council Agenda Packet that will be considered tonight, Bosair has purchased the refueling equipment from Rainier Flight Services. Since it may take months or years for the refueling tanks to be relocated, Airport Management is proposing that the land under the tanks be leased to Bosair on a month-to-month basis. In other words, Bosair, or Ace Aviation, will take over the fuel supply business formerly owned and managed by Rainier Flight Services.
While this may be an appropriate solution, the Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC) should have been consulted and the decision made more publically. Since the Airport Director used to work for Ace Aviation, utilizing the RAAC could help alleviate “appearance of fairness” concerns.
The agenda packet and the proposed new lease can be found here.
The former Rainier Flight Services fuel farm can be seen behind the fence in this photo
Renton Public Works now proposes that the parent company of Ace Aviation, which also owns the above facility at the SE corner of the airport, take over the lease for the fuel farm on the west side of the airport
The now outdated Rainier Flight Services website showed they provided full-service and self-service fueling options
Screenshot from today’s agenda packet
This is a surprise to hear how quickly and quietly this lease has come to be. What a HUGE fuss 20 years ago when ProFlight owners proposed to install a new fuel tank. Many other airport businesses wanted an opportunity for the coveted fueling capability on the airport, even suggesting there might be favoritism for ProFlight. A fair process was followed by the City to determine which business was awarded the fuel farm. RAAC was very well updated as the process unfolded, with many good questions raised that ultimately helped those that “lost” to feel it was a fair process. Council had good advice from RAAC to give ProFlight the fueling.
Ace Aviation owner Kurt Boswell is a long time friend, from our journey with the Council finally approving the Ace Aviation Red Barn after way too long. A Council Member on the Transportation/Aviation Committee (which I was Chair) refused to approve the lease if Kurt didn’t secure the bank loan he thought was needed. I finally convinced Don it was in the best interest of the airport to get this beautiful facility built to set the standard for future development on the Renton Airport. Ace Aviation wanted to have a fuel farm way back then, so this isn’t surprising.
I hope there was a fair, open and equitable process in the City’s decision. Knowing there is a RAAC meeting scheduled in a month, May 13th, it would have been better PR to advise RAAC Members of the plan before moving the lease to Council.
Marcie Palmer
Renton City Council
2004-2015
Do you think this is a move towards allowing the larger jet traffic to take over the Airport? Eventually needing that reclassification and larger runway you talked about in an earlier blog post? The City turning a blind eye to the interests of residents and the smaller private jets in favor of big business again.
Yes Angie, I think this brings us a step closer to full-blown jet center. This will put a third property into the lease-holding of one airport tenant. If this tenant some day chooses to sell his holdings to a jet fixed base operator (FBO), and the Airport Management allows it (which they’ve demonstrated a tendency to do), it would bring us closer to Boeing-field type jet operations. The imminent removal of the old tower building will allow larger jets to access the Ace Aviation facility, which heightens the possibility.
Jets landing and taking off from Renton airport often have a bare minimum of acceptable safety margin (a few seconds or less in some cases), so if these operations exceed 500 in a year, including Boeing first-flights, Renton may be forced to expand the airport into Renton High School.
I fly out of this airport and I view this as wonderful news for general aviation at Renton. Currently with ‘Vesper Aviation’ being the only option for fuel, Renton now has the highest 100LL prices in the greater Seattle area. Vesper has been unsurprisingly taking advantage over the fact that there is no competition at Renton. Not to mention that even with Vesper supplying fuel, they don’t operate any self serve option which as a result decreases flexibility to only the hours they’re open and forces pilots to pay for full service (fuel trucks).
Thanks Anonymous for sharing your insight on the fuel pricing. While I was on Council we used to try to keep at least two FBOs offering fuel to ensure competition, and your input confirms this was a good practice.
Update from April 21 Council Meeting:
Vesper Aviation, the FBO who took over Proflight and manages the other public fuel service on the airport, gave audience comment at the April 21st Council Meeting; they essentially requested that Council table the lease amendment and conduct a more thorough review of the process used to award the fuel lease to Bosair.
When the Transportation Committee Report came up under old business a few minutes later in the meeting, Transportation Chair Ryan McIrvin presented the recommended lease approval for Council concurrence, and said he felt it was reasonable considering it was still just a month-to-month lease, and a full RFP process would be used before awarding a long-term lease.
The Council voted to award the lease as proposed (with six yeas and one abstention. )