Aviation View - Oct 2023

140 AVIATION VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 Mathis points out that the flight school makes use of Italian airplanes for training purposes. Baylor’s athletic teams also make use of the airport. He continues that there is currently one airline servicing Waco: American, by way of Envoy, offering direct service to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one of the busiest such facilities on earth and a place where you can connect to anywhere in the world. The aforesaid airlines are subsidiaries owned completely by the American Airlines Group, which is based in Fort Worth, and their largest hub is Charlotte-Douglas International in Charlotte. “We’re very thankful that we do still have American service here,” Mathis adds of the airline. Infrastructural characteristics and coming improvements To prolong their effective use, airports have to be regularly maintained and updated. One such effort for Waco Regional is improving its aprons. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, aprons are areas of airports where aircraft are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, boarded, or maintained. Mathis says aged asphalt is being replaced by concrete as part of a three-phase operation. He adds that later this year, an airfield drainage project will kick off. Coming into 2024 and ’25, airport officials are looking at overlaying the runways. Further, getting an MRO (or maintenance, repair, and overhaul) facility at Waco Regional “would be fantastic,” Mathis observes, adding that Texas Aero is looking to expand corporate hangar storage space very soon. Being placed right outside of the Interstate-35 corridor is particularly advantageous for the airport, as Mathis points out. According to the Texas Department of Transportation (or TDOT), I-35 is a major north-south route that runs from Laredo near the Mexican border to the Red River north of Gainesville, building, citing everything from bathrooms to lighting, as well as new HVAC units atop the roof. He continues that flight training at Waco Regional is provided by Chiota Aviation; Universal Flight Concepts, which provides both helicopter and airplane training; and Waco Flight Training. The latter specializes in initial tailwheel training and more. The Airport also sees quite a lot of traffic from military aircraft, such as that of the United States Air Force, and it maintains a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense and the DOD fueling contract is maintained by Texas Aero. Plus, it does a lot of business with nearby Baylor University, a private Baptist research university in Waco. Baylor offers a four-year bachelor of science degree in aviation science, as Mathis points out. Waco Regional is home to the Baylor University Flight Center, where flight training is conducted in support of the school’s aviation sciences program.