Owners of Western Aviation Inc., the fixed-base operator at Felts Field, claim activity has grown in recent years at the general-aviation airport on the east edge of Spokane as the company has focused on providing a full range of aviation services there.

Originally founded in 1974 as Western Avionics, the company was one of three avionics businesses based at Felts Field. Since its inception, the company has been through a couple of ownership changes and is now the oldest continually operating business at Felts Field. It also is the only federally approved avionics repair station in the Inland Northwest, claims Barry Huck, a 23-year veteran with the company.

The company has expanded services through the years to include aircraft maintenance, aircraft refueling, and retail sales. Western Aviation took on its current name in 2007 and was awarded the FBO contract for Felts Field in 2011.

As an FBO, “We basically manage the airport,” Huck says.

Huck and Tanya Marsh head up operations at Western Aviation and are members of its current ownership group.

Western Aviation has a total of 14 employees. Recent hires include two mechanics, an avionics technician, and a retail clerk.

The company’s operations are divided into two main locations at the airport. The main, or west-end facility, houses Western Aviation’s administrative offices, pilot shop, avionics department, and maintenance department.

The line-service, or east end, office is located in the airport’s centrally located main terminal and includes a pilot’s lounge and a lobby with car-rental and flight-lesson desks.

The company also manages 90,000 square feet of ramp and parking space in the vicinity of its west-end facility and the airport terminal, and a small float plane base on the Spokane River just north of the runway.

More than half of Western Aviation’s revenue still comes from selling, installing, and servicing avionics. Avionics include electronic equipment that aircraft use for navigation and communication.

“We do everything from a installing a $100 power connection to a $160,000 full-glass autopilot suite,” Huck says. The term “full glass” generally refers to advanced digital navigation and automation equipment with an interface of three electronic screens, he says.

Tim Gump, a part owner and Western Aviation board member, says the avionics industry has changed dramatically over the last three decades. In the 1980s, a new technology, the predecessor to GPS, made long-range navigation accessible to private pilots.

“For the first time, a guy could fly from point A to point B without having to find his way around (using visual landmarks),” he says.

Despite, or perhaps because of, such advances in technology, the number of avionics businesses has plummeted, Gump says, asserting that there aren’t any avionics businesses comparable to Western Avionics between Bozeman Mont., and Aurora, Ore.

“It’s putting more pressure on us,” Huck says. “We just can’t accommodate everybody.”

Although Western Aviation foresees the overwhelming demand for avionics continuing to grow, the company plans to expand that part of the business at a cautious, deliberate pace.

“We don’t want to grow too fast or too much,” he says.

Rapid growth can reduce efficiency, Huck says.

“We don’t want to jeopardize quality and safety,” he says.

One offsetting factor that threatens to put Western Aviation at a competitive disadvantage is the state sales tax, Huck claims.

“In an airplane you can go 35 or 40 minutes and not have to pay sales tax,” he says, referring to the fact that neither Montana nor Oregon has a sales tax.

Typical avionics installations start at $20,000 and often run over $100,000.

“Sales tax becomes an issue,” Huck says.

While Huck claims Western Aviation provides fuel at more competitive prices at Felts Field than its predecessor FBO, He contends the state’s comparatively high fuel taxes also are driving business away.

“In Idaho, they can charge 30 cents a gallon less and have the same profit,” he says.

Fuel sales at Felts Field, though, have been trending upward.

Prior to Western Aviation becoming the FBO, Felts Field had been known for high fuel prices, and for that reason, some pilots avoided landing here, Huck asserts.

It has taken a while for the general aviation community to become aware that Felts Field now has competitive fuel prices, he says.

Gump says that partly because of that growing awareness, Felts Field is seeing an increase in light jet and corporate traffic.

Felts also has lower tie-down fees than Spokane International Airport, which helps attract smaller aircraft.

“Felts isn’t a flyover airport anymore,” Gump contends.

Site preparation recently started on a new facility that will accommodate heightened activity at Felts Field.

As reported recently in the Journal, a related company, EFT LLC, is developing a 40,000-square-foot, $2.8 million general-aviation flight center west of the Felts Field terminal building.

EFT was formed by Gump, Ed Lansberg, and Fred Lopez. They also own Edmo Distributors Inc., a Spokane Valley-based wholesale supplier of avionics equipment and related supplies.

The new facility will have a reception lobby, pilot’s lounge, a new pilot shop, and hangar space for aircraft service and storage, Huck says.

Western Aviation plans to move its services into 30,000 square feet of space in the flight center, a portion of which he says the company potentially would share with Northwest Flight School and Inland Helicopters Inc., both of Spokane.

“Our goal is to have one facility with everything in it,” Huck says.

Regarding the new flight center, Gump adds, “We believe we will see more corporate and high-end private aircraft on par with other first-class FBOs.”

The long-envisioned Honor Point Military & Aerospace Museum also has agreed to lease the remaining 10,000 square feet of space in the flight center.

Blew’s Construction Inc., of Spokane Valley, is the contractor on the project, and Wyatt Architects & Associates PLLC, also of Spokane Valley, heads the project design team.

Felts Field is a municipal airport administered by the Spokane Airport Board, which also oversees Spokane International Airport and the Airport Business Park, both on the West Plains. The airports are jointly owned by the city of Spokane and Spokane County.