Air containers sit outside FedEx Corp.’s hangar complex at the Colorado Springs Airport as planes taxi toward the runway Monday.

A crew begins replacing the air ramp outside the FedEx Corp.’s hangar complex at the Colorado Springs Airport on Monday as part of the company remodel and expansion.

Air containers sit outside FedEx Corp.’s hangar complex at the Colorado Springs Airport as planes taxi toward the runway Monday.

A crew begins replacing the air ramp outside the FedEx Corp.’s hangar complex at the Colorado Springs Airport on Monday as part of the company remodel and expansion.

Pikes Peak Aviation is remodeling FedEx Corp.’s hangar complex at the Colorado Springs Airport to handle more and larger aircraft as the shipping giant prepares to serve new facilities for online retailer Amazon.

The Colorado Springs-based company will spend $4.5 million over six months to remove and replace more than 220,000 square feet of concrete ramp with pavement twice as thick that can support Boeing 757s and ground equipment to load and unload the jets, said Richard Janitell, chairman of Janitell Enterprises, which owns the aviation firm.

“These upgrades are due to increased demand from FedEx shipping,” Janitell said Monday. “This facility can accommodate up to three (Boeing) 757 and 767 aircraft at a time. This project has been in the planning stages for nearly two years, and we need to complete it by Oct. 1 to be ready for the busy holiday shipping season.”

FedEx had operated one flight a day to Colorado Springs, added a second aircraft last year and plans to add a third this fall, Janitell said. The company has expanded quickly as Amazon opened a temporary delivery station in November in a tent-like structure near the airport’s passenger terminal. Amazon also began construction last week on a much larger permanent facility in the airport’s Peak Innovation Park.

Pikes Peak Aviation also is remodeling a 13,000-square-foot office and 30,000-square-foot hangar that are part of the ramp complex. It will replace windows, install energy-efficient lighting and new floor coverings, upgrade the employee locker room and improve the hangar space used to sort packages.

FedEx began leasing the complex in 1991 after using a temporary facility for several years and considering a move to the Pueblo airport. Pikes Peak Aviation is discussing doubling or tripling the hangar size for FedEx, a project that could take up to five years. The 5.5-acre ramp site also can be expanded to accommodate two more aircraft, Janitell said.

Janitell Enterprises also owns a complex of 61 hangars at the airport as well as shopping centers and ranches elsewhere in Colorado.

Contact Wayne Heilman 636-0234 Facebook www.facebook.com/wayne.heilman Twitter twitter.com/wayneheilman

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