Jet Center to handle fixed-base operations at Waukegan airport: ‘A unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity’

For years, the Waukegan National Airport hired outside contractors to handle its fixed-base operations (FBO), providing services to pilots and patrons, from fueling the planes to de-icing them in the winter to a lounge for crew and passengers.

In a move that will both enhance services and provide additional funds for airport improvements, the Waukegan Port District, which operates the airport, has established its own FBO provider.

Skip Goss, the airport’s manager, said that by creating the North Shore Jet Center to handle the FBO operations, the Port District and airport will be able to operate more efficiently, spending less than for an outside operator.

“This is a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Goss said. “Direct operation will provide greater control over the quality of aeronautical services, generate revenues that can be reinvested in the airport and potentially reduce or moderate rates and charges to airport users.”

The North Shore Jet Center, owned and operated by the Waukegan Port District, is poised to assume ground-based operations of the Waukegan National Airport on Oct. 1 in Waukegan, replacing the use of a contract provider.

In the early barnstorming days of aviation, Goss said barnstorming pilots would travel with a truck that contained fuel, spare parts, and tools to maintain the plane as they went from landing strip to landing strip. Everything was mobile. At airports, they are fixed-base.

With airports now providing the services crew and passengers need, from making a hotel reservation to renting a car, Goss said the term fixed-base operations became common in the aviation industry.

Many of the services commercial airlines and air travelers have at places like O’Hare International Airport are provided by an FBO at general aviation facilities like Waukegan. They include fueling, baggage handling, restrooms, catering, vehicle rental, and more.

“It’s a hospitality business,” Goss said. “It provides a comfortable place to pass through when doing business or a place for the pilots to rest while their passengers are in a business meeting. There’s a pilot lounge and a sleeping area.”

Heading North Shore Jet Center is newly appointed General Manager Steve Bowlin. With three decades of experience in FBO management, he said in an email that he has held similar positions at a number of airports large and small, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

“A Full array of traditional FBO services (will) focus on safety as the number one priority, followed closely by the return of local airport-focused customer service offerings to both based and visiting guests,” he said in the email.

Providing enhanced services in the existing terminal, Goss said the Port District plans to build a new executive terminal in 2031 to replace the current facility. Increased revenue from operations of the North Shore Jet Center is expected to pay for the new terminal.

“The current facility is getting old,” Goss said. “It will be very nice to have a new terminal. Revenue from the first five years is expected to pay for the new executive terminal.”

No part of the airport operation is funded by tax dollars. Goss said the costs of the airport are financed by user fees paid by the airplane owners who use the facility. All money generated from operations in excess of cost must be spent on the airport under federal law.

“Never, ever can it be used for anything other than the airport,” Goss said.