At Prescott Regional Airport, an aircraft takes off or lands every 68 seconds. Perched a mile above sea level and ringed by mountains, it’s one of Arizona’s busiest aviation centers — and for nearly a century, a single family-owned company has been there to meet every arrival.
Cutter Aviation has operated continuously at this field since 1928. As it approaches its 100th anniversary, it’s still growing. What it takes for a family business to survive — and expand — across that much change is a question worth examining.
A mile high and nearly 100 years old
Founded in 1928, Cutter Aviation ranks among the world’s oldest family-owned aviation companies — a distinction that grows more meaningful with every passing decade. The Prescott location sits above 5,000 feet elevation, surrounded by mountain terrain, at the center of the Tri-City region encompassing Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Chino Valley. That geography shapes everything: flying conditions, customer mix, and the sense of place that keeps pilots coming back.
One aircraft every 68 seconds reflects how dramatically the region has grown. A quiet high-desert airfield has become a genuine aviation hub, and Cutter has been present through every stage of that transformation.
For many arriving passengers, Cutter Aviation Prescott is their first point of contact with the community. “When someone steps off their aircraft, we want them to feel like they’ve arrived somewhere special,” said Matt Pruett, General Manager of Cutter Aviation Prescott. Nearly a century of practice shows in how seriously the company takes that responsibility.
From a single FBO to a regional network
Cutter Aviation today operates six FBO locations and six maintenance facilities across the Southwest. The Prescott facility carries particular weight within that network, serving a broad range of operators — from recreational general aviation pilots to Fortune 500 corporate jets, from U.S. Forest Service wildfire tankers to United Airlines fueling operations. Few regional FBOs can claim a customer mix that wide.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University adds another dimension entirely. Its fleet of more than 100 training aircraft moves through the airport regularly, and Embry-Riddle alone brings more than 3,000 flight students through Prescott each year — reinforcing the airport’s standing as a center for aviation education, not just transit.
Cutter Aviation Prescott operates as a Phillips 66-branded FBO, which brings contract fuel customers to the facility and supports consistent safety and compliance standards. Phillips 66 Aviation conducts fuel quality audits and operational evaluations, and provides training and certification support — including NATA safety programs — that maintain accountability at the field level.
Expanding ramps, hangars, and ambitions
The most visible sign of Cutter’s confidence in Prescott’s future is concrete — literally. The facility recently added 86,000 square feet of ramp space and redesigned its original ramp layout, bringing the total ramp and parking footprint to approximately six acres. For a regional airport FBO, that’s a substantial physical commitment.
A new 25,000-square-foot heated executive hangar breaks ground in May 2026, with completion expected in early 2027. The heated facility addresses a practical gap during Prescott’s winter months and accommodates the larger aircraft now regularly using the field.
“We have aircraft coming in that have 110-foot wingspans,” Pruett noted. “Customers appreciate that we’re not squeezing them into tight parking spots.” The ability to park wide-body corporate jets obstruction-free is a real competitive advantage — one the new hangar will extend further. A renovated lobby, pilots lounge, and conference room round out the investment, reflecting the same logic: the ground experience matters as much as the infrastructure beneath it.
An airport growing to match its ambitions
Cutter’s expansion doesn’t happen in isolation. Prescott Regional Airport has its own development plans underway, including a runway extension to 10,000 feet — long enough to accommodate larger commercial and corporate aircraft currently unable to use the field, opening new categories of traffic for both the airport and its FBO tenants.
The relationship between airport growth and Cutter’s investment runs in both directions. A bigger ramp and a new executive hangar make the airport more attractive to operators considering Prescott; a longer runway makes those operators more likely to commit. Each side enables the other.
Prescott’s appeal extends well beyond the airfield. Pilots and corporate travelers often choose it over the Phoenix metropolitan area for what surrounds it — a historic downtown, outdoor recreation, lakes, and a community that feels navigable rather than overwhelming. “Prescott has a way of capturing people’s hearts,” Pruett said.
Community roots and the next hundred years
Cutter Aviation’s investment in Prescott isn’t limited to concrete and steel. The company supports the annual Prescott Air Fest each October, an event drawing nearly 5,000 attendees for static displays, flyovers, and family programming — the kind of presence that ties an aviation business to the community it serves rather than just the runway beneath it.
The Bill Cutter Memorial Scholarship, established in 2018 to honor William R. “Bill” Cutter, has supported 74 students with $185,000 in awards to date. That commitment to developing the next generation of aviation professionals reflects a longer view of what it means to be a durable part of an industry.
Cutter Aviation’s centennial arrives in 2028. Its partner Phillips 66 Aviation reaches its own 100-year mark in 2027. Company leadership frames the current wave of investment not as a departure from the past but as an extension of it — honoring nearly a century of continuous operation while building capacity for what comes next.
With a new hangar breaking ground, a runway extension on the horizon, and a regional population that keeps growing, the question isn’t whether Prescott’s aviation sector will expand. It’s how quickly Cutter Aviation can build to keep pace — and whether the next hundred years will look as different from today as the last hundred looked from 1928.
