International air ambulance company building $10.5 million hangar

Jet ICU, a Tampa-based air ambulance company, has begun construction on new hangar and corporate offices.

The 32,500-square-foot, $10.5 million complex is being built at 5321 Airport Service Road near Tampa International Airport.

Along with the hanger, Jet ICU’s new space will include a state-of-the-art communications center and 15,000 square feet of office space that will allow it to streamline its operations and help coordinate missions, according to a statement.

The project, the company says in the statement, is an extension of its current footprint at the airport and will “significantly (bolster) the company’s rapid response capabilities and the provision of elite medical care.”

“The strategic layout is geared towards enhancing the ability of Jet ICU to respond swiftly and effectively in emergency situations, ensuring seamless integration of all aspects of mission planning and execution,” according to the statement.

Jet ICU was founded in 2003 by pilot Mike Honeycutt and over the years has brought home a University of South Florida student badly injured in a car wreck in Cuba and reunited parents whose twins were born prematurely to a surrogate and were trapped in Utah because of travel restrictions during the pandemic.

Just last month it flew Cleveland police detective Ashley Schut home after she was nearly paralyzed in a deadly paragliding crash in Utah.

Before starting Jet ICU, Honeycutt was a medevac pilot flying fixed wing airplanes. He started in 1995 working for a Clearwater air ambulance company that’s no longer around.

In 1998, he went to work for Midway Airlines but came back to the air ambulance business after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Jet ICU currently has a fleet of 10 aircraft and has transported more than 10,000 patients. Its operations span more than 150 countries and six continents.