Westjet Air Center Celebrates Grand Opening of $1 Million New Facility

Westjet Air Center, Inc. (KRAP) is hosting a grand opening event Friday, October 9, to celebrate the construction of its $1 million new FBO facility.

The facility includes a state-of-the-art flight-planning center, pilot’s lounge, private sleeping quarters, well-stocked vending area, and a children’s room built to cater to traveling families.

Owners Don and Linda Rydstrom, both retired commercial pilots with more than 16,000 hours of flight time, took the opportunity to build a new FBO facility that truly caters to their aviation customers’ wants and needs.

“Our daughter grew up in aviation,” said Linda. “I used to fly with her a lot and it was so nice when an FBO had a children’s area. Today I see more and more families flying together so we prioritized creating a children’s play room to really cater to this need.”

The Rydstrom’s daughter, Miranda, is slated to take over the family-run business within the next 8-10 years. Following in her parent’s footsteps, she works as a commercial pilot and certified flight instructor. She and her fiancé have begun renovations to Westjet’s previous facility with plans to open a flight school there by the first of the year, and expand the FBO’s maintenance area and office space.

The celebratory Westjet grand opening event on Friday, October 9, includes a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1:00 and runs until 5:00. Invited guests include Governor Dennis Daugaard, Mayor Steve Allender, the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce, the Rapid City Regional Airport board, Phillips 66 Aviation, Westjet’s loyal and valued customers, as well as the subcontractors who helped construct the new FBO facility.