COVENTRY — Gary Forrest flew about 100 miles from Parlin Field Airport in Newport, N.H., to Newport State Airport in Coventry on Thursday morning. Cheered by onlookers from the ground, he arced his two-seater aircraft in front of runway 18/36, taxied toward the terminal, turned off the propeller and pushed the plane by hand past Gov. Peter Shumlin in perfect time for a news conference.
Forrest, who earned his pilot’s license in 1973, had stopped flying for years. But the modern design and technology of Flight Design’s CTLS light aircraft lured him back to the cockpit. He appreciated the advanced avionics for navigation and features such as an airframe parachute, which lowers the entire aircraft to the ground if deployed.
Forrest’s reasons for buying the plane are many of the same that attracted Ary Quiros to the company that built it. But he did more than buy one.
Ary Quiros, son of Ariel Quiros of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain fame, is credited with bringing the plane’s manufacturer into a $20 million public-private expansion of the Newport State Airport.
Tom Peghiny, president of Connecticut-based Flight Design USA, said he met Ary Quiros at an aviation event in Florida in January. “He completely bowled me over by how fast he wanted to move and how serious he was about this project,” Peghiny said.
Flight Design USA, the American wing of German plane manufacturer Flight Design, will open its doors to an assembly plant in Coventry this fall. A new facility for assembly and distribution will be built in the spring, followed by the launch of a flight training school in summer 2014.
About five planes per year will be assembled in Coventry to start, from a combination of American- and German-made parts. The company will take advantage of the Foreign Trade Zone that encompasses all three counties of the Northeast Kingdom. The FTZ reduces certain tariffs for companies engaged in international trade.
Flight Design is one part of Quiros’ elaborate plans for the airport’s expansion.
A new terminal will be built, the fuel farm relocated, additional hangars constructed and a bonded warehouse developed on the far south end of the property. Developers also are counting on Federal Aviation Administration permits to extend a runway by 1,000 feet, allowing larger planes and private jets to use the facility. And they’ve submitted an application to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for a user-fee based customs station to be located on site.
The capital projects alone are estimated to cost about $20 million over five years. Planners project that 25 jobs will be created.
Lyndon State College president Joe Bertolino also spoke at the news conference to promote his school’s efforts to customize curricula to the needs of the project and the area.
In addition to the college’s existing programs in atmospheric sciences, business and rural entrepreneurship, Bertolino said an aviation manufacturing program is being developed to roll out over the next two to three years.
This will help supply Flight Design with the skilled workers needed for its new location in Orleans County. Until then, the company will bring assemblers to Vermont from other states.
The airport’s expansion also will help fill beds at nearby resorts, including Jay Peak and Burke Mountain, owned by business partners Bill Stenger and Ariel Quiros.
Stenger and Quiros, in addition to their involvement at the Newport State Airport, are spearheading a $600 million set of developments in the Northeast Kingdom, funded by the federal EB-5 immigrant investor program.
At the airport, Stenger promoted an “aviation vacation” resort package in his remarks to the media. He also emphasized that ground transportation would be developed to accommodate families and business travelers flying in from out of state.
The deal
Plans to expand and improve Newport State Airport have been in the works for several years. The Class G airport, where pilots simply radio to each other to coordinate takeoffs and landings, is one of 10 state-owned airports in Vermont.
In a 2009 business plan, the Vermont Agency of Transportation is urged to “take full advantage of offers of private funding to develop facilities at Newport State Airport.”
“When we see really good partners, the agenda speeds up,” VTrans Secretary Brian Searles said at the news conference. He said Quiros, his father and Stenger fit the bill as ready, willing and able private partners.
Jay Peak had been identified in the 2009 business plan as one potential private investor, among others, for the runway extension.
Now a newly formed corporation called Q Aviation, run by the younger Quiros, has taken over as the airport’s Fixed Base Operator (FBO) — essentially, a contractor working as the airport’s manager. That means Q Aviation leases property from the state, runs its business and the airport’s operations, and invests in capital improvements that will revert to state ownership once the lease is no longer renewed.
Lakeview Aviation Inc., owned by Daniel Gauvin, had been the FBO for several years. Gauvin still runs the Newport airport, but now as a subcontractor for Q Aviation. Lakeview remains in business for flight training, aircraft rentals, maintenance and other services.
“It’s too big to not be on board,” Gauvin said, speaking of the change in management structure. “It’s better to see this all happen and be a part of it.”
Bill Kelly, chief counsel for Jay Peak, Burke Mountain and other Stenger-Quiros partnerships, said Q Aviation’s lease payments will increase as more square footage is built and as more revenue is earned.
But before all this takes shape, a few more hurdles must be cleared.
The older airport still operates with a septic system and must improve its wastewater system, but the area’s soil, comprised largely of glacial till, is not permeable enough to create effective leach fields.
The state is funding studies of the options for expanding wastewater capacity as airport traffic increases, officials said.
And the neighboring Coventry Landfill, which borders the airport, is in communication with the state and airport developers about the landfill’s own expansion needs.
John Gay, an engineer for Casella Waste Systems, Inc., which operates the state’s only landfill, said the company is more than halfway through an application to increase its intake.
Since the landfill in Moretown closed earlier this year, Gay said, there’s been some uptick in deliveries to Coventry. It might not be enough to drastically shorten the current cell’s capacity — which has about 10 to 15 years left. But the landfill would, nonetheless, like to be able to accept more trash.
The 2009 airport business plan cited the landfill’s inevitable expansion as a potential stumbling block, given that the odor of the waste, plus the birds and other wild animals it attracts, are all nuisances for pilots.
Gay said airport officials had just visited the landfill earlier Thursday morning, before the news conference, to keep in touch about both facilities’ needs and plans.
“I’m afflicted with optimism,” Stenger said about the runway permit. His careful but worry-free approach might well apply to the landfill and wastewater issues, as well. Stenger said that state officials have brought a “can-do” attitude to this and other developments on which he bases his faith in the airport’s success.
Kelly also is confident.
People had been “cautiously optimistic” about the group’s plans to bring an airplane manufacturer to Newport, Kelly recalled, standing before Forrester’s CTLS parked on the apron.
“And here we are,” he said.
This article was updated by Hilary Niles on Friday, July 12, 2013.
