SalemNews.com, Salem, MA

Focus

Focus: Airport renovations already showing results

By Cate Lecuyer
Staff writer
Published: April 7, 2008

BEVERLY — There is hope that the local economy will take off as more planes do the same at Beverly Airport.

The city-owned facility is in the midst of a $15 million overhaul that could create a transportation hub for tourists and company executives, and boost business in the area.

"I'm very excited and cautiously optimistic," said Beverly Airport Commission Chairman Paul Vitale.

The airport, built in 1928, was "crumbling," Vitale said. But the last two years have brought more than $6 million worth of improvements, including the renovation of one runway that was completed in October. Future projects will propel the airport into the 21st century.

With the invention of small, lightweight jets that are more affordable for many companies — think $2,000 instead of $20,000 — and a growing technology industry on the North Shore and in Beverly — think the Cummings Center and Cherry Hill — more corporations will rely on planes for transportation, Vitale said. In the last couple of years, he has seen an increase in corporate fliers over privately owned single- and double-engine planes.

"No matter what the economy does, they need to travel," he said of executives. "They need to fly, and they need to fly as quickly and economically as possible."

Whether going in or out, using a small airport and plane is often faster and easier than taking a commercial jet, Vitale said. In addition, Beverly's proximity to Boston makes it a less crowded alternative to Logan Airport, and the North Shore has its own special charm that could turn an executive into a tourist for the day, spending money not only at the airport, but in hotels, restaurants local shops.

With an updated Web site, a promotional PowerPoint presentation and brochures to come, Beverly Airport has started marketing itself as an upcoming facility in a location where there's a lot to do, and is promoting services at the airport itself — like a helicopter tour business — as local attractions.

Twenty-two private businesses lease land from Beverly Airport. Most of them are aviation-related, and a sort of synergy has emerged out of the airport's infrastructure improvements, which are being paid for primarily by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"Our tenants are stepping up to the plate because they're confident the airport is heading in the right direction," Vitale said.

Private businesses have begun investing their own money in projects, including building hangars, leasing more land to create a parking lot to service corporate jets, and buying better and faster planes for charter flights.

"We're starting to reap some of the harvest," Vitale said.

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