As a reliever airport for Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Williams Gateway Airport is growing and busy with recent major developments around the ASU East community, including a 7-acre, $11.3 million project that will be completed by fall 2004.
The project - a cargo "apron" or ramp and associated taxiways around the control towers of the airport - is designed to support two Boeing 747 aircraft side by side.
Brian Sexton, community relations coordinator at Williams Gateway said, "This will be instrumental to the marketing and development of international and domestic cargo operations at the airport."
The Federal Aviation Administration funded 90 percent of the construction, and the Arizona Department of Transportation and the airport authority paid for the remaining balance.
"Boeing is always looking for new opportunities to bring projects here," said Marie Frank, director of marketing at Williams Gateway.
Sexton said airport authorities also recently approved a lease agreement to allow Phillips Aviation and Realty of Raleigh North Carolina to build a speculative hangar that will house flight schools, maintenance and repair stations, shops to service large aircraft and other businesses.
"It will start out at about 25,000 square feet, but it can expand to about 80,000," Sexton said.
A press release said Phillips secured land to build a second 25,000-square-foot hangar and 150,000 square feet of hangar and office space at the airport.
"This will promote employment opportunities," Sexton said.
Williams is also the new location for the Nevada flight school Silver State. According to a press release, Silver State chose Williams because of ASU East's presence across the street. The company brought 22 helicopters and 40 employees to the community.
Boeing and the University of North Dakota also house their commercial helicopter pilot and maintenance training program at Williams.
Charter flights are still mostly experimental - there will be a new flight to Reno, Nev., in November.
"There is interest in charter flights and passenger flights," Sexton said. We have to have a contract with the hotels to get the chartered flights. Hotel space dictates whether there will be chartered flights coming into and out of Williams."
Williams has a brand-new operational passenger terminal and offers free parking.
ASU East students and airport-affiliated traffic now can enter the campus community via the now-complete and newly decorated Sossoman Road entrance from Power Road.
A press release said Lee McPheters of the ASU College of Business did a benefits study and concluded that Williams Gateway and ASU East have created 3,000 jobs and that this number is growing monthly.
Reach the reporter at erika.camardella@asu.edu.
