Training troubleshooters A Berkshire Manufacturing Academy program is geared toward personal development to enhance the region’s workforce. Page 2
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Berkshire Business Journal JUNE 2024 I VOL. 3, NO. 6
Spreading its wings
Pittsfield Municipal Airport’s latest expansion includes new hangar, solar arrays
PHOTOS BY BEN GARVER
Pittsfield Municipal Airport Manager Dan Shearer said the most recent impact study commissioned by the state found 219 jobs were created at the airport or indirectly at other businesses, representing a total payroll of $13,421,000. BY JAMES THERRIEN PITTSFIELD — Pittsfield Municipal Airport has reached a smoother cruising altitude after years of turbulence through complex, difficult construction projects, and a global pandemic. “We’ve been trying to stabilize things and move forward and grow with our [business] tenants,” said airport Manager Daniel Shearer. “They are going well, and hopefully some good stuff is coming up in the next couple of years.”
CONSTRUCTION SPURT Actually, some major news is on the immediate horizon — including a groundbreaking for a long-planned solar generating facility, and construction of a $3 million, 23,000-square-foot air-
craft hangar that Lyon Aviation is building, one of a half-dozen planned in the coming years. Lyon already has several hangars on-site, but the new facility will be its largest, and it will be in a newly developed area near the 500-plus-acre airport’s entrance off Tamarack Road. Most of the new business-related activity is driven by Lyon Aviation, a multi-faceted aviation company that also acts as the airport’s fixed-base operator, providing fuel, hangar space, maintenance, ground connections, information and other services for pilots who use the airport. “We’ve been expanding yearover-year,” said company President Michael Lyon. He said the company has smaller hangars and three main hangars. The largest — where
bigger aircraft are accommodated and the more complex main tenance work is done — was built in 2003. NEED FOR SPACE The hangar entering the construction phase, which will nearly double the company’s capacity, is scheduled to be completed in late 2024. “We are just out of space and out of space everywhere we AIRPORT, Page 10
Patrick Kalinowsky and Blake Srzepa inspect a Falcon jet in the Lyon Aviation hangar at Pittsfield Muncipal Airport. Construction has begun on a $3 million, 23,000-square-foot aircraft hangar — one of a half-dozen planned in the coming years.