Texas Border Business
When J.F. “Mac” McCreery arrived in McAllen in 1948, he wasn’t greeted by a busy airport or a sleek terminal. There wasn’t much of an airport at all—just grass runways, a few crop dusters, and wide-open land stretching across the city’s south end. But what Mac saw wasn’t just terrain—it was potential. He and his wife, Ardath, moved from Mercedes to McAllen and planted the seeds of what would become one of the region’s most enduring aviation legacies.
With fuel in his hands and vision in his heart, Mac began offering flight lessons, selling fuel to the few aircraft that came through, and partnering with Cessna to sell airplanes. “He just started building from the ground up,” recalls his son, Bob McCreery. “There was almost nothing here. But he saw what it could be.”
It wasn’t a solo flight. Ardath McCreery, originally from San Benito, managed the bookkeeping and customer service while her husband built the technical and operational side of the business. The two of them ran McCreery Aviation like a true family operation—humble, determined, and built for the long haul. “My mom did everything that didn’t involve flying an airplane,” Bob says. “It was a small team, but they made it work.”
That early spirit of collaboration and service continues today, nearly 80 years later. McCreery Aviation is now one of the most respected fixed-base operators (FBOs) in the country, offering a full range of services including maintenance, flight instruction, avionics, aircraft sales, charter, and fueling. It is also one of the few in the United States to hold Stage Three certification under the International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH), a mark of elite safety and ground-handling practices.
For a growing city like McAllen—positioned at the intersection of domestic and international business, trade, and travel—McCreery Aviation isn’t just a business. It’s infrastructure. It’s access. It’s an invitation to the skies. “When people fly in here, we’re the front door to the City of McAllen,” says Bob. “And we take that responsibility seriously.”
From grassy fields to a global gateway, the story of McCreery Aviation mirrors the rise of McAllen itself. Keep reading inside these pages and learn how a World War II pilot and a Valley native built a business that continues to elevate an entire region—one flight at a time. Enjoy!
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