After months of construction, Governor Peter Shumlin today gathered with local officials to celebrate the official reopening of the Morrisville-Stowe State Airport. The governor also announced an exciting public/private partnership to bring additional investment to the airport, including a new air charter company with service to and from cities such as New York, Boston, Toronto and Washington, DC.
“People from all over the country want to come to Vermont to enjoy all our state has to offer,” Shumlin said. “By securing federal funds to make these necessary investments to aging infrastructure, we’ve now made it possible for the private sector to go to work making further improvements that will bring more visitors to the Morrisville/Stowe Region. And with them will come businesses, jobs and expanded economic opportunity for Vermonters.”
In addition to the improvements planned for the Morrisville-Stowe Airport, Vermont recently received notification from the Federal Aviation Administration that the Rutland-Southern Vermont Regional Airport received an additional $8.5 million for airport upgrades, which brings the total investment in the airport to approximately $15 million over two years. These projects have included a 300 foot expansion of the runway, construction of a safety area at the south end of the runway with Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS), the relocation of airport road with a turning lane, construction four solar hazard beacons, the construction of a retaining wall to lengthen the safety area of the runway, and other projects. These projects are currently under construction and are estimated to be completed by July 2015.
The Morrisville/Stowe airport has been closed since mid-April to perform a full reconstruction, including a brand new runway, taxiway and approach lighting system. Additionally, the north and south taxiways and the runway apron were reconstructed. The total cost of the project was $4.4 million, 90 percent of that from federal funds provided by the Federal Aviation Administration.
These new public investments provide a platform by which Stowe Aviation, a new company started by Russ Barr, will draw approximately $20 million from the private sector in further investment at the airport. That will include a new passenger terminal with a café for use by air travelers and local residents, a new air charter company to and from the Stowe region to large cities, a flight training academy featuring full-motion simulators, an advanced piston and turbine aircraft maintenance facility, and a professional aircraft management company. The private investment will come through the EB-5 program. Once financing has been secured, the project’s estimated time frame is eight months.
“This is a textbook case of a public-private partnership that works. The State, through Aviation Director Guy Rouelle, has worked tirelessly with me for the past two years to bring about this public investment and assisted me in reaching the right people in State government to put together the financing,” said Russ Barr of Stowe Aviation. “I’m looking forward to building the next phase of the airport redevelopment that will result in high paying jobs and great opportunities that are going to come to the entire region."
Source: Governor's office 8.5.2014