Matheson Flight Extenders Grows by 20% in Q1 as it Expands To Serve Four New Metro Area Markets

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Mar 29, 2014, 06:00 ET

ORLANDO, Fla., March 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Matheson Trucking, Inc. CEO Mark Matheson announced today that the company's Matheson Flight Extenders (MFE) Division has grown by 20% with the addition of four new strategic metro area markets in less than four months, bringing the number of total markets served by MFE to 20 across the continental U.S. and Alaska. The announcement is being released at the Air Cargo World 2014 Conference and Trade show in Orlando – one of the new Matheson markets.

The Sacramento, California market was acquired when Evergreen EAGLE Aviation filed for bankruptcy last December. Sacramento is also the national headquarters for Matheson Trucking, Inc. and the Matheson Flight Extenders Division.

The other three new markets were obtained during a federal government agency competitive solicitation, evaluation and award process. They include: Tulsa, Oklahoma; Charleston, West Virginia, and Orlando, Florida. The solicitation involved a total of 44 stations in 2014. Matheson bid on 33 of these markets and is the incumbent in 13 others, from a total of 72 stations in the Terminal Handling Services (THS) contract base. Each contract has a four-year base with the possibility of two additional two-year extensions.

Matheson plans to hire employees within each new market, with a preference for managers and existing staff members previously working at these stations. The company will bring in experienced MFE managers for an initial six-month startup period. Matheson expects to assume full responsibility for these new market acquisitions within 60 days.

"Our commitment to safety, professionalism and excellent customer service is second to none," said Glen Gates, president of Matheson Flight Extenders. "Over the past three years, MFE stations have performed more than 33,000 THS operations at our continental U.S. locations coast-to-coast and in Alaska where we consistently meet critical entry times established for our scope of work."

In addition, Mr. Gates said "Matheson's highway contractor division has an on-time performance rating of +99%, and our load, unload and underwing services for DHL, Delta and FedEx scheduled flights are rated at +99% with only five controllable delays in more than 2,180 scheduled departures."

Established in 1972, Matheson Flight Extenders (MFE) provides a comprehensive range of ground support and terminal handling services to its customers. MFE has 560 employees, access to a fleet of 300 company owned and operated trucks and 1,200 pieces of GSE and package handling equipment kept in good condition at the company's network of 11 wholly-owned fleet maintenance shops centrally located in California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Washington State. MFE has secure on and off-airport operations in 20 major U.S. hub cities, including Albuquerque, Anchorage, Billings, Boise, Charleston, Cincinnati, Denver, Great Falls, Las Vegas, Louisville, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Reno, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Sioux Falls, Spokane, Tucson and Tulsa.