Upswing in business prompts Yingling to build another parking lot

A combination of more general aviation traffic and the opening of a Subway restaurant is driving Yingling Aviation to build another parking lot.

The fixed-base operation at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport has received approval to build a 40-stall parking lot on a nearly 22,000-square-foot vacant patch of ground just west of Yingling at 2010 S. Airport Road.

“What drives our parking is obviously transient traffic as well as aircraft that are based here (at Yingling),” said Lynn Nichols, owner of the company that provides refueling, maintenance and storage services to general aviation and charter aircraft.

He said the Subway Cafe that he opened last July inside Yingling’s main building, is also putting a squeeze on parking for Yingling‘s aviation customers.

“Then you lay on top of that a 737 full of Wichita State boosters and staff, they need parking,” said Nichols, referring to a charter flight that departed Yingling this week for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in Cleveland.

Nichols said construction on the $150,000 parking lot is expected to begin next month and take four weeks to complete. Cornejo & Sons is the contractor.

When complete, the project will expand customer parking to 104 spaces, he said.

Yingling received approval this week from the Wichita City Council to lease the ground for 10 years at an annual lease rate of $3,688. The rate is subject to increase 5 percent every five years, according to city documents. Yingling will be responsible for the upkeep of the lot.

Nichols said flight activity at Yingling is up. That’s among owners of corporate and leisure aircraft that are parked in hangars at Yingling, as well as transient aircraft, such as fractional aircraft companies.

He said the Subway restaurant he opened at Yingling has also been drawing customers from outside the building.

Nichols said it’s typical for the restaurant to serve people who work at Eisenhower Airport as well as businesses on the airport property such as FlightSafety, Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and the Federal Aviation Administration.

“The airport community has received the Subway Cafe very well,” he said. “We’re very, very pleased and happy with the results.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Upswing in business prompts Yingling to build another parking lot."