Wilson Air Center President Bob Wilson says his company always tries to exceed expectations.
Wilson, whose Memphis-based business is a new fixed-base operator at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, tells the story of how his Charlotte, N.C., operation helped woo NASCAR to place its hall of fame in that city.
When the search committee flew into Charlotte, Wilson Air officials brought in a pace car and dressed all its personnel in the uniforms of different NASCAR teams, he said. When Charlotte was picked, the search panel cited Wilson Air as making a favorable impression, said Wilson, whose father, Kemmons, started the Holiday Inn chain.
“The first impression is the one you remember,” Wilson said last week at the Chattanooga airport’s new $5 million general aviation terminal and hangar, which his company will operate.
Airport officials say the facilities are the new business front door to the city in terms of corporate aircraft and general aviation and an economic development tool.