It’s not every FBO that can trace its beginnings back to the waning days of World War II, but one that can is Tulsair at Oklahoma’s Tulsa International Airport. Gail Clark, a talented Army Air Corps flight instructor, was released from the service as the war in the Pacific came to an end, and in a chance meeting he came across manufacturing legend Walter Beech, who offered the veteran a chance to sell his airplanes.
Tulsa was the closest city to the small Kansas town where Clark was born and raised, and so the story goes he headed there, marched into the tallest building in town, and by the time he walked out he had sold $2.5 million in aircraft. While he toyed with the idea of taking an early retirement on the sizable commission he received, in the end he decided to invest it in an aircraft sales and service facility, and thus was born Tulsair Beechcraft’s FBO in 1947.
Today, at 15 acres, the location is not only the oldest but also the largest of six FBOs on the field, based in a 5,000-sq-ft 1930s-era building that was once occupied by the military. Tulsair acquired it in 1966, a year after current owner Tom Clark, also a former military flight instructor, took over the facility from his father. Tom immediately began a major overhaul of the building. “My father said, ‘That’s too much money,’ and I said, ‘Well, it’s my money to lose.’ Doing what I did has paid off,” said Clark, who was born the same year as the company. “I don’t mean to be running my father down, but he was getting older and he thought it was a crazy thing to do, but we really built some nice places here for the people coming in.”
The terminal features a refreshment area continually stocked with freshly baked cookies, passenger lobby, pilot lounge with two snooze rooms, an exercise room, free Wi-Fi, a business center and a 10-seat A/V-equipped conference room. Crew cars are offered, along with on-site car rental. The location has a staff of 65. It is open 24/7 and, appealing to flight crews, it offers free GPU usage and does not charge any ramp fees.
Tulsair currently operates 100,000 sq ft of heated hangar space large enough for the biggest business jets. It is home to 20 business jets and turboprops, ranging from a pair of Challenger 300s to several King Airs. “Because there are six facilities on the field, there has tended to be an overcapacity of hangar space, which has kept prices relatively low compared to the regional averages,” said company president J.J. Lester. All told, according to the latest FAA statistics, the airport has 73 based jets, and sees on average 260 operations a day.
One of the oldest branded dealers in the Phillips 66 network, Tulsair has shown loyalty, having never changed brands throughout its more than seven decades. Its fuel farm holds 40,000 gallons of jet-A and 10,000 gallons of 100LL, and it is served by four jet fuel tankers (5,000 gallons, 3,000 gallons and 1,200 gallons) and a 1,200-gallon avgas truck. Competition among the half-dozen providers has also served to keep fuel prices lower than average, noted Lester, yet despite that, the company reported business over the past year as excellent.
The FBO’s line service staff participates in NATA’s Safety 1st training, along with the Phillips 66 training program, but Clark does not discount the institutional memory amassed by the company over the past 70-plus years. “We’ve been doing this for so long we have a lot of experience,” he noted. “We can take that knowledge and experience and blend it in and make it even better for our customers.”
Beyond the FBO Services
Aircraft sales and leasing have remained a large part of the company’s DNA. “That’s important to us, always has been,” Clark told AIN. “Certainly I’ve felt that by trying to sell those airplanes, that will make other things grow just as well.” The company has been a Beechcraft parts dealer since 1945, with a multimillion-dollar inventory, and the FBO’s Part 145 maintenance department can provide heavy airframe and engine maintenance along with an avionics shop for authorized installations and repairs of all the major brands. It has a charter and aircraft management certificate as well to keep them flying.
One of the unique things about Tulsair is decidedly non-aviation related. The company purchased the White River Fish Market, a popular local eatery located less than a mile from the airport, several years ago. Dating back to 1932, it has gained a loyal following in Tulsa over the years, with lunchtime lines stretching out the door. “When we have customers in here, we grab them and take them down there and feed them lunch and they just love it,” noted Clark, adding that the company is in the process of building another of the fish restaurants on the other side of town.
