Atlantic Aviation may be outdistancing its name, but don’t expect company president Lou Pepper to consider changing a brand that dates back almost to the dawn of flight. New York-basedMacquarie Infrastructure Company (MIC), affiliated with the Australian banking giant and which recently bought the Atlantic Aviation FBO chain, hasannounced a $58 million agreementto acquire Las Vegas Executive AirTerminal (LVE) at McCarran InternationalAirport in Las Vegas. Pending routine approvals, the FBO will be rebranded as an Atlantic Aviation facility, becoming the 13th link in the growing Atlantic network. The FBO’s current owner signed a 30-year lease with the airport authority in 1996 and competes with Signature Flight Support on the busy field.

Macquarie also owns the five AvCenter FBOs; FBOs at Palm Springs and John Wayne Airports in California; and AvPorts, which manages several airports and heliports.  

Peter Stokes, CEO of MIC, said, “According to recent U.S. Census Bureau data, Nevada is forecast to experience the largest state population percentage growth in the United States over the next 25 years. LVE has a strong customer value proposition, having recently expanded its facilities in 2003.”

Calling Las Vegas Atlantic’s “lucky thirteenth” facility, company v-p Sue Sommers told AIN the deal could close as early as the July 4th holiday. She said, “We have some ideas for improving ramp procedures to increase capacity. As anyone who’s been to McCarran knows, they’re turning traffic away to the other airport [Henderson], and we don’t want that to happen! We also intend to expand the flight-planning facility. Pilots who read that will say, ‘They really need to do that. That room is tiny.’”

Sommers said Atlantic plans to retain all current LVE employees and bring in Al Archuletta from Houston to be the new general manager. (The current gm is expected to stay on with Atlantic.) “Lou [Pepper] has met with the airport authority and they’re thrilled to have us there,” said Sommers.