Long a presence at Manassas Regional Airport, aircraft charter/management and maintenance provider Chantilly Air has received permission to construct a new FBO at the Washington, D.C. gateway, where it will join APP Jet Center and Dulles Aviation in offering ground handling. Construction of its $13 million facility is expected to begin this fall, with an anticipated completion by the end of next year.

Plans call for a three-story 24,000-sq-ft terminal, with the upper two floors dedicated to company and tenant offices. It will include a passenger lounge, conference room, flight planning area, fitness center, and other amenities. The company will also add 60,000 sq ft of heated hangar space, able to accommodate the latest large-cabin business jets, which will bring its total to 80,000 sq ft of aircraft storage at the dedicated general aviation airport.

“With a recent economic impact study showing Manassas Regional Airport as the busiest general aviation airport in the Commonwealth of Virginia and accounting for roughly 30 percent of the statewide $1.1 billion in economic activity, the timing could not have been better to build a premier FBO facility,” said Caleb Stitely, the company’s marketing and client relations manager. “The benefit of no commercial aviation at Manassas Regional Airport provides aircraft operators shorter wait times for taxi and takeoff, which is exactly what business aviation users want.”