The grand reopening of the terminal building at Platteville Municipal Airport Wednesday provided the opportunity for another announcement.

Walter Aviation of Independence, Iowa, is providing Southwest Wisconsin’s first charter air service, and one of the few charter air services in the Tri-States, at the airport.

The twin-engine Grumman GA-7 Cougar can carry three passengers in addition to the pilot, and has a range of 800 nautical miles, which places it in range of more than 5,000 U.S. airports for such purposes as business travel and out-of-state family emergencies.

The standard charter rate is $2.85 per nautical mile.

“Our service is an on-demand service,” said owner Jonathan Walter. “Part of the time the aircraft will be out doing training, but it is on-demand.

“We are one of very few charter operations in northeast Iowa, so we service a much larger community.”

The company is a certified private air charter operator by the Federal Aviation Administration. Walter said the plane can get passengers to within 15 minutes of their destination, and the company can set up courtesy car or car rentals from airports.

Walter started the company in 2012. His interest in flying came from a high school internship with a pilot.

Walter said the similarities between his business, which operates the Independence, Iowa airport, and A&A Aviation, which operates Platteville Municipal Airport, also were appealing for expanding Walter’s business. Both companies do pilot instruction and offer airplane rentals.