The Eagle has landed

Alison Calkins

Tuesday, May 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Eagle Aviation is soaring to new heights with the opening of its new Las Vegas Executive Air Terminal at the northwest section of McCarran International Airport.

The $8 million, 28,000-square-foot terminal is geared to service private and corporate-owned aircraft with ramp space for over 200 aircraft, fuel, large hangars, sleeping quarters and showers for pilots and crew, a flight planning room, and catering and concierge service.

The Las Vegas Executive Air Terminal's main 18,180-square-foot hangar is also the first commercial hangar in Southern Nevada with a water-foam deluge system for full fire protection.

The system releases 2,800 gallons of water-foam per minute to smother potential jet fuel fires.

But the trademark of the new terminal is a jet-set version of a porte-cochere -- an external canopy made of translucent fabric that extends about 76 feet from the entrance with a 40-foot clearance that protects passengers from the weather and the sun.

"The canopy is very Las Vegas," said Cliff Evarts, CEO of Eagle Flight Services and the Las Vegas Executive Air Terminal. "It shows the level of service we provide."

That service includes 24-hour-a-day repairs and maintenance at an FAA-certified repair station and a Duncan Aviation satellite avionics shop.

The red trim of the new building matches McCarran's main terminal, and is a big change from Eagle's former quarters that advertised Grand Canyon air tours on its roof.

"We tried to create a facility that's compatible with McCarran," Evarts said. "This terminal is a real credit to the Las Vegas community and we want this to be the community terminal.

Evarts said the continuing proliferation of casino, resort, real estate and other businesses in Las Vegas increases the appeal of a state-of-the-art facility -- that's twice as large as that of competitor Signature Flight Services.

But Evarts said there's enough business to go around.

"We'll be worthy competitors of Signature and it's a friendly competition. In fact, they've been very helpful to us," he said, adding that space has run out at McCarran for any more fixed-base operations.

The new terminal is part of the first phase of $30 million project which includes a Grand Canyon tour terminal, additional corporate hangars, aircraft-vehicle maintenance hangars, an administration center, rental office space and a flight-deck restaurant.

The terminal was designed by JMA Architectural Studios, and the general contractor is Martin-Harris Construction.

JMA President and Project Manager Thomas Schoeman said their mandate was clear.

"Our marching orders were to create the best FBO in the country and I think we did that," he said, adding that the design started with the idea of porte-cocheres.

"There's one on the pedestrian side and one on the flight side. The link between the two became the organizing element of the building," he said.

Eagle Flight Services is an affiliate of Eagle Aviation Resources Ltd., formed in 1993 by Gene Yamagata, the owner of Eagle Canyon Airlines, Eagle Jet Charter and the Las Vegas Executive Air Terminal.

For the past 25 years, Yamagata has owned and operated various business ventures with headquarters in Japan.

Before buying the Eagle Group in 1992, Yamagata developed a business exporting personal and health-care products to Japan with annual retail sales of $484 million in 1994.

The terminal's opening will be celebrated tonight with a party in the new hangar.