August | 2021
SkyWest Airlines Awards Contract to 1 Vision Salina
1 Vision employees perform maintenance on aircraft in Hangar 959 located at Salina Regional Airport. (Photo by Salina Airport Authority)
Tim Unruh
August 4, 2021

More opportunity has touched down at the Salina Regional Airport since SkyWest Airlines, operator of United Airlines flights from Salina to Chicago and Denver, awarded a maintenance contract to 1 Vision Aviation Salina.

The aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) company at the Salina Airport, specializes in regional jet MRO and is eager to serve the needs of the St. George, Utah based airline.

Maintenance work in Salina could grow by 50 percent, said Jeremy Bailey, 1 Vision director of maintenance, and will further diversify the company’s customer list.

SkyWest will initially send regional jets to 1 Vision for conformity checks, in other words, making sure that the jets conform to SkyWest’s operating specifications.

“They’re sending us these planes to test us out,” said Jim Sponder 1 Vision president and CEO.

“We’ll absolutely do well,” he said, “so more will come.”

The contract is a big step for 1 Vision, Sponder said, and will allow 1 Vision Salina to grow its workforce.

The SkyWest contract continues Salina’s momentum, said Eric Brown, president and CEO of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.

“1 Vision entered the Salina market with a great reputation of executing high quality work and excellent service,” he said. “This new contract with Skywest Airlines is a testament of the expertise and trust the 1 Vision team has garnered in the airline industry. This contract also signals growth by this local business and new opportunities for job seekers to expand their careers here in Salina.”
 
Housed in a huge Salina Airport hangar, 1 Vision has operated at Salina since Sept. 1, 2019. Since 2020 the company has provided line maintenance for SkyWest’s United Express flights at the airport. The company’s line maintenance work has enabled SkyWest to consistently operated scheduled flights on time.

The goal at 1 Vision is to become SkyWest’s essential maintenance provider doing detailed inspections known as “checks” on the airline’s fleet of regional jets, Merritt said.

SkyWest sent officials to Salina for a pair of audits in the past month to evaluate 1 Vision’s ability to perform necessary maintenance and inspections, and 1 Vision scored high marks.

“With a fleet of over 450 aircraft flying to 241 destinations throughout North America our maintenance needs are great” said Greg Atkin, SkyWest’s Managing Director, Business Development.  “We are pleased to be working with 1Vision, a maintenance provider with a great reputation and an operation in the center of the country that can serve our needs from multiple hubs.”   

Developments at 1 Vision provide even more real-world examples and opportunity for the nationally known aerospace training program at the adjacent Kansas State University Salina campus.

“The addition of 1 Vision Aviation into the Salina workforce has already had a positive impact on the quality of our student experience,” said Alysia Starkey, CEO and dean of the college.

“Having a respected and growing MRO in our local community affords students a unique opportunity to gain relevant work experience while working toward their career goals,” she said.
 
“The leadership at 1 Vision is incredibly supportive and understanding of the need for students to balance coursework with part-time employment. Just having them in Salina has brought additional attention to our aviation maintenance management program which has now grown beyond capacity.”

K-State is reciprocating by providing “additional pathways that we can assist 1 Vision in meeting their employment needs,” Starkey said. “It is an exciting challenge for universities to think outside of the traditional approach to education and we are fortunate to have a dedicated partner in 1 Vision Aviation.”
Did You Know?

  • Aircraft maintenance checks are recurring inspections that must be completed on all airline aircraft after a certain amount of time or usage. Each airline prepares a Continuous Airworthiness Maintenance Program (CAMP) as required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to keep aircraft safe and airworthy. 

  •  Inspections are referred to as “checks” and can be either an A check, B check, C check, or D check. A and B checks are lighter checks while C and D are considered heavier checks. Each maintenance check consists of numerous tasks.

  • 1 Vision Salina can also perform maintenance on business jets and air cargo aircraft. 

Tower Update
Greetings!

As expected, July brought some warmer, or should I say “hotter” weather as well as a couple of month-long training exercises and our annual Runway Safety Action Team meeting that was held in Hangar 600. Our meeting consisted of 18 personnel that reflected on the previous year’s activities and also discussed “Best Practices” moving forward. Additionally, we gave some insight on what’s to come next year in terms of future events and construction projects for the airport.
 
The months temperatures ran hot enough that departures required longer distances or room for climb outs to gain the altitudes pilots desired and aircraft that landed elected to roll out longer then they normally do, thus exiting the runway later than anticipated, to avoid overheating brakes or other aircraft systems; therefore, controllers had to be more vigilant during these situations so not to force an aircraft to do something it may not be capable of.
 
The exercises hosted this month that will both continue into August. One of them is a mission that requires balloon launches to gather atmospheric data used in conjunction with the testing that they are conducting. The second mission is testing an old military DC-9, regathering lost data, to determine present performance before the aircraft goes through a refit of sorts; therefore, the aircraft is here in Salina with a runway length that more than supports its’ effort. Once this testing period and the refit is done, the aircraft plans to come back and complete another series of performance tests at a date in the future.
 
We are hoping to be back up to normal staffing in the not-so-distant future with two candidates in the hiring process. All in all, everything is operating smoothly with lots of experience gaining opportunities with the current exercises and those up-coming added to our normal traffic flow.
 
That wraps up our time for now … if you should have any feedback on our team’s performance or ways that we can improve, please feel free to submit a survey anytime at
 
Be safe, fly often, and make the most of every situation every day …

Scott Hillegeist
Air Traffic Manager
Salina (SLN) FCT
Feature Facility

Building 412
2804 Arnold Avenue

Is your business growing? Check out building 412, it could be the solution you're looking for.  

The Salina Airport Authority has available for lease, a 13,640 sq. ft. facility located at the Salina Airport Industrial Center. Building 412 is located at 2804 Arnold Avenue and provides easy access to I-135 & I-70.

This well maintained facility features a climate controlled shop, warehouse, or assembly space with 2,120 sq. ft. of office space. Corporate neighbors include Schwan Food Company and the Occupation Center for Central Kansas. Building 412 is also near several of Salina's larger employers including Salina Vortex and GeoProbe Systems.

Call the Salina Airport Authority today at (785) 827-3914 to schedule a tour, or email shellis@salair.org.

Fly with us! September 23 - 25

Ready for an exciting tour of Kansas?! The Fly Kansas Air Tour highlights the economic impact our local airports have on their communities, as well as promotes the importance of STEM and aviation education. This year will kick-off in Wellington, multiple community events across the state, and end with a Beech factory tour in Wichita. Don't miss this fun tour of Kansas filled with aviation camaraderie and free food for all pilots/crew flying the tour!
REGISTER NOW

*Pilots/crew are responsible for booking their own hotels 
For questions please free free to contact:

Air Tour Lead: Logan Falletti-Wright: logan.falletti@ks.gov
KCAE President: Lindsey Dreiling: lindseyrdreiling@gmail.com 
On the Flightline at America's Fuel Stop
Operations at Salina Regional Airport - August 2021
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