Aero Air, LLC

Aero Air, LLC, a self-certified small disadvantaged business based in Hillsboro, Oregon, operates as a prime contractor providing exclusive-use and call-when-needed large airtanker aerial firefighting services to the federal government on a 100% prime basis, with no subcontractor engagement. The company operates a fleet of turbine-powered fixed-wing aircraft, primarily Lockheed P-3 Orion and Electra models, delivering aerial fire retardant drops, reconnaissance, cargo transport, and personnel transport in support of federal wildland fire suppression operations.

Aero Air's customer base is highly concentrated with the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management National Interagency Fire Center, which accounts for 96 of 114 total awards (84% of award count) and $2.34 billion of the combined $2.34 billion potential value across all federal work—essentially the entirety of the vendor's documented federal contracting footprint. The remaining five agencies served (Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Department of Homeland Security US Coast Guard, Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration, Department of the Navy Naval Air Systems Command, and two USDA Forest Service subordinate offices) collectively represent $352 thousand in combined potential value and constitute marginal activity. This extreme concentration reflects Aero Air's role as a specialized aerial firefighting asset tightly integrated into the federal government's wildland fire management infrastructure.

Aero Air holds three primary master contract vehicles. The Forest Service Airtanker Services 2023 indefinite delivery contract, a $1.44 billion multiple-award vehicle set aside for small business with performance through December 31, 2033, has generated 35 task orders carrying $197.9 million in combined potential value; recent delivery orders span May 2024 through June 2026, with exclusive-use orders ranging up to $52.4 million (May 2024) and call-when-needed orders ranging from $28 thousand to $1.05 million. The Next Generation Large Airtanker Services 3.0 multiple-award indefinite delivery contract, valued at $100 million, has generated 10 task orders with $69.5 million combined potential value, all firm fixed-price delivery orders for exclusive-use aircraft with annual or multi-year performance periods through 2025. A legacy Call When Needed 2.1 Airtanker Services single-award indefinite delivery contract, valued at $350 million and closed to new orders as of December 31, 2023, contributed over $20 million in historical delivery orders through 2023. Additionally, an Indefinite Delivery Contract (1202SA22T9108), likely a subordinate vehicle housed elsewhere in federal contracting, has generated 42 task orders with $18.4 million combined potential value.

Award activity shows growth from 6 awards in 2022 to 44 in 2023, declining to 7 in 2024, then recovering to 13 in 2025 and 21 through June 2026. The SCI dataset captures only FY2023 activity, showing $49.2 million in invoiced revenue delivered by 44.7 FTEs on federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold; this represents a snapshot of a single fiscal year and does not reflect the vendor's full federal revenue stream, which includes goods contracts (aircraft operations) and delivery orders excluded from SCI. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts in FY2023, government-paid hourly rates ranged from a 10th percentile of $423.77 per hour to a median of $1,237.53 per hour and a 90th percentile of $1,684.70 per hour, with zero subcontractor engagement on these records.

Aero Air competes exclusively under full-and-open (non-set-aside) and Total Small Business set-aside designations; recent delivery orders split roughly evenly between the two set-aside postures, with three-quarters of large exclusive-use orders from the MATCO 2023 vehicle carrying Total Small Business designations and the remainder awarded without set-aside. The company performs work at two primary operational bases: Hillsboro, Oregon, and Boise, Idaho, with shorter-duration delivery orders typically completing in 10 to 30 days and exclusive-use orders spanning 120 to 160 calendar days of aircraft availability mapped across multi-year performance periods. Aero Air's NAICS profile is dominated by Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation (98 awards) and Other Support Activities for Air Transportation (10 awards), and its PSC codes reflect wildland fire suppression procurement (Natural Resources/Conservation—Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression: 83 awards) alongside aircraft maintenance and transportation services.