A new master plan for the Heber Valley airport in Utah is to be submitted to the FAA for approval. This decision to proceed by the Heber City Council will ultimately result in a safety upgrade of the airport to C-II standards and a long-needed update to the airport's layout plan, necessary to ensure continued federal funding.

Certain agreements were also approved that would settle the federal lawsuit that airport FBO operator OK3 Air filed against the Council in 2017, ending nearly six years of litigation. The settlement relies, in part, on commitments Heber City made to complete the master plan process.

OK 3 Air owner Nadim AbuHaidar says: “The City is finally moving forward with an upgrade that has been needed since 2004. Safety will improve, and compliance with the FAA grant assurances will ensure federal funding. Concerns have been raised over the years about what an upgrade might mean for the airport. Hopefully, the City's master planning process allowed folks to understand that the upgrade will just allow the airport to more safely accommodate the aircraft that are already landing here, while maintaining the City's FAA funding. The upgrade presents an opportunity to plan for the future of the airport in a way that addresses the needs of all stakeholders.

“After six years of contentious litigation, I think the settlement is a very good outcome for both the City and OK3 Air. Heber City and OK3 can now work together, rather than against each other.”

Under the settlement agreement, OK3 Air receives extensions to its FBO and hangar leases, under which it will pay updated lease rates to the City. Importantly, the lease extensions will enable OK3 Air to operate at the airport for the next 50 years. It also received permission to build a new, 33,000 sq ft aircraft hangar, which, according to AbuHaidar, is: “necessary to begin to address the current, critical hangar shortage at the airport.” OK3 Air also received certain development rights when the airport is upgraded.

Review of the City's new airport layout plan shows that a substantial part of OK3 Air's current leasehold, including about half of its aircraft parking ramp and its maintenance hangar, will eventually be demolished to accommodate the safety upgrade. As a result, operations will be relocated to a new 17.8 acre campus on the south end of the airport, pending completion of the necessary environmental studies. The City has also set aside a space on the north end of the airport, intended to serve the needs of the airport's light general aviation users with an Avgas-only, light general aviation FBO and additional hangars for the storage of smaller aircraft.

AbuHaidar continues: “Now that Heber City is committed to the safety upgrade, maintaining its federal funding and working cooperatively, we are excited to invest in our current operation as well as the future of the airport. OK3 Air has been proudly serving the flying public for 23 years, and we look forward to doing so for the next 50 years.”

OK3 Air will begin paying increased lease rates to the City immediately and intends to break ground on its new hangar as soon as possible. In addition, the development agreement with the City commits the FBO to invest at least $5 million at the airport once the C-II upgrade occurs.