Mena Aircraft Services Endure Bumpy Landing

If the Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport is a reliable gauge, the aircraft services industry is regaining altitude after getting buffeted by the nation’s economic storm.

“We hit bottom in the middle of 2009, and we’ve been coming back up ever since, slowly but surely,” said Rick Lanman, MIMA airport manager.

That’s good news for Polk County, where unemployment averaged about 7.2 percent during 2010.

Boosters estimate the aircraft services industry in and around the airport generates an annual economic benefit of more than $5 million.

Those combined operations compete with Emerson Electric’s motor plant in Mena as the largest source for bringing outside income to the local economy.

The airport is the hub for 15 companies employing about 150 these days. When business is good, contract labor boosts the number north of 300.

During the past 40 years, the rural airport established itself as a destination for refitting, engine repair, maintenance, interior upholstering, woodwork and painting service.

Its companies built a reputation for competitive pricing, quality work and fast turnaround time.

Those attributes attracted aircraft from all points of the compass to fly to the Ouachita Mountain Valley that is home to the airport.

Scott Ray, human resource director with Rose Aircraft Services Inc., remains cautious about future business prospects.

“Unfortunately, we’re still digging out of a pretty good hole here,” Ray said. “Business is picking up gradually. Whether or not it’s going to maintain, I don’t know.”

Rose employs 75 at its combined Mena and Rogers operations. The most recent peak employment for the company was about 135 back in 2005.

Not long after Lanman was hired as airport manager in January 2008, layoffs began cutting into the area’s aviation-related employment.

A notable local casualty during the economic downturn is Mena Aircraft Interiors.

Founded in 1992, the company had a 17-year run until financial woes overwhelmed its owner, Timothy Wells. More than $225,000 of debt associated with the venture resulted in a trip to bankruptcy court in July 2009.

Several other smaller ventures also closed shop during the recent lean times.

Lee Chapman, aviation maintenance instructor at Mena’s Rich Mountain Community College, teaches introductory courses in aviation repairs at the airport.

He said economic conditions are reflected in the lower interest among students, even to the extent that full scholarships, funded by grants from the U. S. Department of Labor, are left untouched.

“It seems to be creeping back, but it’s still a slow job market out here,” Chapman said. “I can’t give this stuff away, and we’re giving away scholarships.

“The training we give is for the apprentice-type employees. I have a night class going with five very enthusiastic people. Once the economy lines out, they shouldn’t have any trouble finding a job.

“I had a high school class that met for three hours a day. It started with five, and now we’re down to three.”

In February, the Federal Aviation Administration forecast that despite three years of decline, the general aviation market should experience slow but stable growth during the next 20 years.

The FAA’s track record for prognostication leaves room for skepticism, but industry players hope the agency’s assurances of improvement are valid.

It would be comforting to believe the FAA’s report that the nation’s fleet size will increase by an average of 0.9 percent annually, and that operations will climb 2.2 percent yearly during the forecast period.

Those numbers bode well for better days.