Midcoast Deal Crashes

Midcoast Aviation Inc. of St. Louis has decided against building an aircraft maintenance and modification facility at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. Instead, the company will invest about $10 million upgrading its facility at Little Rock National Airport.

It wasn’t an easy decision. Midcoast executives believe the new airport will be a big success.

“We gave it some long, hard thought,” says Gary Driggers, chief operating officer for the company. “It’s a wonderful opportunity but it didn’t fit what our company is doing.”

Driggers and other executives with the company were visited two years ago by Alice Walton and several other supporters of the new airport about building a facility there. Company officials discussed the possibility before voting against it, Driggers says.

Instead, the company decided to convert its maintenance facility in Little Rock into a modification center. The company expects to increase its number of employees at the facility from the current 130 to more than 300 during the next three years. The expansion should increase annual revenue at the facility from its current $15 million to about $45 million.

“We think Little Rock is one of our greatest opportunities for expansion right now,” he says. “But, in this business, you never say never.”