Shuttered After Eight Years Losing Money

The Redbird Skyport at San Marcos Airport in Texas (KHYI) closed its doors for good last week after eight years in operation during which Redbird founder Jerry Gregoire said it "never made a dime."

Writing on the Redbird blog, Gregoire said that the Skyport's profitability challenges stemmed from a host of "poorly informed decisions on my part," some of which were made before ground was broken on the project.

The Skyport opened in 2011, and was frequently in the news. In 2012, they sold avgas for $1 a gallon. They operated a FITS Proficiency Part 141 flight school as a simulator development laboratory, and won multiple awards for FBOs at small airports.

But Gregoire said in the blog post that the first poor decision that was made was choosing San Marcos in the first place. It seemed like a good idea due to the location halfway between Austin, TX, where Redbird's Flight Simulation HQ and factory is located, and San Antonio. which is the fastest-growing city in the state. Projections for the FBOs business plan anticipated selling around 600,000 gallons of fuel each year, which would have made the operation profitable. Those sales never materialized.

Gregoire said that changes in the leadership of the San Marcos City Government contributed to the business' demise. Promises made by the previous leadership are not a priority for, or the responsibility of new elected officials.

But at the end of the day, Gregoire says that Skyport "no longer plays a key role in Redbirds's future." The Skyport served as a lab for the development of new simulator technology through the FITS Proficiency program and with the support of many in the industry. Now, he says, with more than 2,400 Redbird sims operating around the world, "test platforms and, certainly, real-time feedback is plentiful … good and bad."

Gregoire says that Redbird is now a large and mature enough company to absorb the employees that will be affected by Skyport's closure.

(Image from file)

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