Ground has been broken at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport’s (GSP) $30 million cargo facility to support Upstate’s economy following years of rapid traffic growth.
The 110,000 square foot warehouse and 13 acre cargo ramp are scheduled to open in the spring of 2019, and will be able to accommodate three Boeing 747-8s simultaneously.
The cargo apron is partially funded by $11 million from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program, with the apron expected to cost $17 million and the warehouse another $13 million.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based WK Dickson is the engineer for the cargo ramp, McCarthy Improvements of Davenport, Iowa is the contractor for the ramp and Haskell of Jacksonville, Florida is the designer and builder for the cargo building.
GSP president and chief executive officer (CEO), Dave Edwards says: “This new facility is going to be more than a significant accomplishment for Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. It’s going to provide much-needed support for major manufacturers and have a direct economic impact on the Upstate.”
In the 2018 fiscal year, the airport district’s Cerulean Aviation supported more than 1,200 cargo flights and GSP’s cargo numbers increased nearly 39 per cent between 2016 and 2017.
Tim-Oliver Kirschbaum, CEO of German-based freight, shipping and logistics company Senator International says: “We are looking forward to continuing work with GSP while serving our clients in the Upstate and this new facility will make operations even more efficient. When we started our Senator Atlantic Bridge (cargo flights between GSP and Germany’s Munich Airport and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport) in November 2016, we proposed that after a period of time, our flying program would increase.
“Today we operate up to eight flights a week, which makes an increase of apron and warehouse space necessary. We look forward to this new environment for our employees.”
In 2017, Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District took on its fixed-base operator services by launching Cerulean Aviation, which not only supports general aviation aircraft and refuelling but also serves as an air cargo service provider.
Cerulean’s services include on-airport cargo facilities, build-up and break-down of cargo, BUP transfer, bulk and containerised aircraft loading and unloading, on-call charter cargo handling, customs documentation processing and aircraft refuelling.
