Sky’s the limit?

HARLINGEN — Absolutely, positively, FedEx Corp. is expanding its presence at Valley International Airport.

The Memphis-based company now has a second cargo plane stationed at the airport, and flights in and out have increased from around six flights a week to about a dozen flights per week.

FedEx has added 50 new employees to staff the extra flights, hiring 41 package handlers who work mostly part-time ($13.80 to $19.03 per hour), five transport drivers ($18.97 to $29.31 per hour), two ramp agents and two managerial employees.

Dr. Mark Kroll, dean of UTRGV’s Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship and a member of the airport board, asked the Harlingen Economic Development Corp. last week to allocate $120,000 to aid the company’s expansion effort by paying for an open-air canopy near the taxiway next to the FedEx facility.

“It’s basically a metal canopy that allows them to ground-sort items as they come in and get them sorted and on their way,” Kroll told the HEDC board.

Kroll said the reason the airport was asking the HEDC for money was because the Federal Aviation Administration, which supplies most of the funding to the nation’s airports, doesn’t allow spending to benefit a single entity. In this case, that would be FedEx.

“If we play right with FedEx then we could become a very, very serious air cargo hub here on the U.S.-Mexican border,” Kroll said. “Longer term, obviously, we want to engender good will with those folks.

“They’ve got skin in the game and also I would like to observe that … they’re going to step up and put another $150,000 into an electrical generator service that would supplement the canopy investment.”

Airport and HEDC officials said FedEx already has invested more than $2 million in its infrastructure in the Harlingen area since 2010.

Later the HEDC board, in executive session, authorized CEO Raudel Garza to continue to negotiate the $120,000 deal for the canopy with FedEx before releasing the funds. Any decision on disbursing the funds also must be approved by the City Commission.

Laredo’s loss, VIA’s gain

The additional FedEx packages now being routed through Valley International previously flew into Laredo, Kroll said.

“Not only have they added six new flights (weekly) in the Valley … but in addition to that when we get I-69 East straightened out, FedEx is talking about bringing freight in from Corpus Christi via truck and flying it out of HRL (Valley International) as they are doing from Laredo now,” Kroll added.

Bryan Wren, assistant director of aviation at VIA, said the increased cargo FedEx is moving through the airport has already been a significant boost for the facility, which in 2016 ranked No. 81 nationally in cargo with 263 million pounds.

The additional cargo being moved by FedEx projects to 343 million pounds this year, which would place VIA in the mid-60s nationally.

“At 60 to 63 in the nation, it puts us on par or better than airports like St. Louis Lambert International and McCarran (International Airport) in Las Vegas, which is extremely impressive for an airport our size,” Wren told the HEDC board.

San Antonio and Laredo are the only other South Texas airports in the top 100 among freight-handling facilities, ranking 33rd and 54th, respectively.

Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport ranks 127th with 16 million pounds annually, while McAllen-Miller International Airport was not listed among the FAA’s top 136 cargo airports.

FedEx operates at Valley International on a five-year lease which the airport and the company have in the past rolled over into a new agreement.

Bullish on Harlingen

The FedEx expansion of its air freight operation and the expectation of increased truck traffic from produce haulers crossing at the Free Trade International Bridge at Los Indios have, despite their different cargos and transportation modes, one thing in common: Harlingen’s central location in the Valley.

City officials and economic planners have long professed faith in the advantages of geographical location as a key factor in both the city and region’s near- and long-term future.

The recent developments appear to be confirming those beliefs, and many transportation and development experts in the Valley say they are part of a foundation for a broader economic blossoming.

“Having overnight air cargo based here attracts businesses,” said the VIA’s Wren in an interview after the meeting.

The HEDC’s Garza said FedEx being bullish on Harlingen means not just additional employment opportunities and additional payroll dollars, but it “brings in additional sales tax dollars, et cetera, in a trickle-down effect.”

“I think FedEx has recognized that Harlingen is centrally located not only in the Valley but in South Texas in general,” he added in an interview. “Everything from Corpus Christi to Laredo and down to Brownsville, and all points in-between.

“Valley International Airport in Harlingen is in the right location to service that entire region more efficiently for them and therefore that’s why they’re looking at doing these kinds of moves,” Garza said.

Kroll, the UTRGV’s business school dean and airport board member, believes FedEx may not be finished growing its operation in Harlingen.

“I conceptualize this more as thinking about what’s to come versus what we’ve gotten,” Kroll said at the HEDC meeting.

“As I said, if VIA, Harlingen, et cetera, treat FedEx right, then I do believe they’re going to continue to consolidate freight operations as they’ve done out of Laredo, and bring in stuff from Corpus Christi, and we could be talking about another flight … and that’s another 50 jobs.

“It’s not smoke and mirrors,” Kroll added, “its real stuff.”