Reading airport authority will examine cost to take over fuel operations at the airfield

Karen Shuey, Reading Eagle, Pa.
Updated ·3 min read

Apr. 18—The Reading Regional Airport Authority is continuing its effort to become the sole provider of fuel and related services at the Bern Township facility.

The board voted unanimously Tuesday to hire a consultant with BBP Solutions, a York County firm that specializes in aviation development, at a cost not to exceed $10,000 to help the airport staff study the operational expenses associated with buying the assets of the two existing fixed base operators at the airfield.

The authority this month approved a proposed agreement of sale for Reading Jet Center and Millennium Aviation. The proposed purchase price for Reading Jet Center is $9.2 million, and the cost of Millennium would be $4.7 million.

If the sale goes through, the authority would not buy the companies, meaning they would not assume any liabilities they hold. Instead, the authority would be purchasing each company's assets.

The authority and the companies have 90 days to consider the proposal. Authority members said its final approval — and the final sale prices — will be contingent on securing financing and on a study being done about the potential sale.

At a meeting last month, the board hired Houston-based JLL Valuation & Advisory Services at a cost of $30,000 to conduct a study of the purchase price of the two existing FBOs.

Reading Regional Airport Director Zackary Tempesco told the board Tuesday that his team will work with the consultant to investigate the other two components that will determine whether the authority will move forward. Those components are the cost to convert their operations to the authority and their ongoing operational costs.

"The airport fully understands the importance of this opportunity and its potential impact on future growth," he said. "We are utilizing all available resources to the best of our abilities to complete this plan. BBP Solutions will review our plan to ensure it is complete and build upon it for the best possible outcome."

Tempesco said he believes the JLL study and the operations plan will provide the board with all the information it will need to make an informed decision about the future of the airport.

Steven Schory, representing members of the general aviation community at the airport, voiced his concerns about what would happen if the board decides to back out of the deal once that information is provided. He said many tenants at the airfield are anxious about the future of the airport.

Berks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach, who is also chairman of the authority, acknowledged the authority is taking a risk by pursuing its exclusive right to be the sole FBO, but said that the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"We believe this would provide a unique opportunity, based on what we have been able to look at, to give the airport stability and strength that we otherwise would not have," he said. "We are not aware of the airport ever having this opportunity in the past so we felt we had to at least explore this.

"We are taking every effort to take advantage of this opportunity, but we want to do it in a way that is responsible to the taxpayers and to those who use the airport."