Business View Magazine | September 2020

192 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020 Since 1945 www.etlcorp.com 873 Great Road, P.O. Box 295 Stow, MA 01775 Tel: 978.897.4353 / Fax: 978.897.0779 Highway • Bridge • Airport Bike Path • Site Work Landfill & Dam Construction - Certified WBE - Always a pleasure to work with the Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport. Celebrating 75 years...a job well done! another 27-acre plot, this time with a fee of $1 per year. In 1936, Mrs. Barnes and her daughter, Saddie Knox, donated an additional 297 acres to the City, and shortly thereafter, the Westfield City Council voted to name the Airport after the family that made it possible. In 1939-40 the administration building, hangar, and the beacon light were built with grant money totaling near $90,000. On October 28, 1937, a 10-passenger tri-motor Stinson began weekly flights between Westfield and Newark, New Jersey. In 1947, the Massachusetts Air National Guard based its 104th Fighter Wing at the Airport. American Airlines DC-3s operated out of Westfield from 1938 to 1950, and Mohawk Airlines DC-3s from 1953 to 1959. At the time, the Airport had three runways. In 1974, an air traffic control tower was erected. Today, Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport comprises 1,200 acres, and has two asphalt runways: 2/20, which is 9,000 X 150 feet, and 15/33, which is 5,000 X 75 feet. It is overseen by a three-member Airport Commission and a management team of seven employees, headed by Airport Manager, Christopher J. Willenborg. Revenues from airport fees and property taxes on its aviation facilities total a little over $1 million, annually, with operating expenses less than $800,000, so it does operate in the black. The Airport does not have scheduled commercial service, but maintains its Part 139 certification as both the National Guard, as well as nearby universities, often utilize civilian air carriers, including Boeing 737s and Airbuses, as unscheduled charters. Approximately 125 general aviation aircraft are also home-based at Westfield-Barnes. “We also have several major MROs here at Westfield,” Willenborg adds. “Gulfstream Aerospace has its northeast aircraft repair facility here and they have over 300 employees. So, we get hundreds of Gulfstreams that come into Westfield for aircraft maintenance. We also have Ross Rectrix Aviation, which is a national