BRUNSWICK

There was a time when the sound of the Navy’s prop-driven P-2 Neptune and P-3 Orion aircraft filled Brunswick’s skies. Today, the authority overseeing the development of Brunswick Landing wants both private pilots and aviation-related businesses to make use of some of the former base’s hangars, runways and other facilities.

Brunswick Executive Airport — known by its FAA identifier BXM — utilizes 650,000 square feet of hangar and maintenance facilities, 103 acres of taxiways, and a pair of 8,000- foot runways.

Such facilities were part of the “heart and soul” of the former base, said Steve Levesque, executive director of Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, which oversees the airport’s development.

The facility was built during World War II as a training base for British and Canadian fighter pilots. Operations shut down at the end of the war, but the base was reopened at the start of the Cold War, becoming a maritime patrol facility.

The airport would cost $2 billion had it been constructed today, said Levesque.

About 9,000 individual takeoffs and landings occurred last year at Brunswick.

The Navy operated two control towers at the base. Neither remain operational as control towers today.

The older tower adjacent to the hangars is now home to BXM’s fixed-base operator, FlightLevel Aviation, which opened in 2011, and serves as a concierge for visiting aircraft, providing fuel, a home for a Hertz car rental, and other services.

Ben Lacharite, manager of FlightLevel Aviation in Brunswick, described clients as anyone from “joyriders” to “top executives.”

“We’re kicking off into the busy season,” said Lacharite, speaking recently as he was overseeing refueling of a pair of small aircraft. “Every year’s been better than the last for us. … I’ll have more large jets here during the summer.”

The second, newer tower sits in a more secluded area near the edge of the base property. In contrast to the air operations building, the newer tower, built shortly before the base’s closure was announced in 2005, is surrounded by overgrown grass and is fenced off from the rest of the area. Electronics and other instruments are missing from the tower’s cab. Otherwise, the facility looks like it could have been in operation only yesterday.

The tower is now being conveyed from the Navy to MRRA.

“We have a challenge in figuring out what to do with that building,” said Levesque, who added that the tower’s location would make it appropriate for “a nice, discreet R and D facility” for companies such as Northrop Grumman.

On the other side of the runways, there are more signs of life. The airport is also home to general aviation pilots. There are about 30 craft based at the airport, ranging from small Cessnas to twin-engine jets.

Those that are flying in and out of BXM are often executives from companies such as Irving and General Dynamics. Others include visitors and vacationers.

“Whenever Bowdoin College has an alumni weekend, the ramp is full of jets,” Levesque said.

Costs associated with operating the airport are largely responsible for MRRA’s projected $300,000 budget shortfall this fiscal year.

The airport is paid for through a $1.2 million line of credit MRRA can draw from for airport operations. That note will be paid off once MRRA achieves a positive cash flow this year, which is two to four years ahead of schedule, said Levesque.

Levesque said MRRA will break even this year.

“We have to maintain the buildings, plow the runways, maintain the airport. That costs money. The only way to offset that is through leases and venue fees,” said Levesque.

The airport’s deficit is not unheard of.

Down in Portsmouth, N.H., Pease International’s two airports run a deficit of $1.2 million to $2 million annually, paid for through leases by the Pease International Tradeport business hub, according to Pease Development Authority Executive Director David Mullen.

The site of the former Pease Air Force Base, Pease International describes itself on its website as “a prospering business and aviation industrial community,” home to more than 245 companies employing 7,000 people.

Its location along New Hampshire’s seacoast close to both Maine and Massachusetts has allowed businesses to pull from a substantial skilled labor force. Pease also benefits from New Hampshire’s lower cost of doing business thanks in part to a lack of sales, income and capital gains taxes.

While it has the largest runway on the East Coast, the airport isn’t what drives Pease’s economic engine, according to Mullen.

“Nobody located here because of the airport,” said Mullen.

The airport is an amenity used by businesses at Pease International and by general aviation pilots.

As in the case of Brunswick, Pease is also close to other hubs — Logan and Manchester — making establishing regular commercial passenger flights problematic.

Tucked away in the Northeast corner of Maine by the Canadian border is the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone. Like Pease and Brunswick, Loring was also closed due to Base Realignment and Closure commission action, becoming the Loring Commerce Centre in 1994.

Loring is home to the longest runway in Maine at 12,100 feet long, according to Loring Development Authority of Maine President and CEO Carl W. Flora.

Despite its size, the runway doesn’t play a central roll in the Centre’s development, nor is it available for general aviation use.

“The airport’s use was always a bit of a question mark,” said Flora, who also sits on MRRA’s board of directors.

Loring is focusing its efforts on other industries.

“Right now, the main runways are in fine shape, but if we were to land a project of significant scope, economically, we would not have the ability to maintain the airfield complex ourselves,” said Flora.

MRRA’s plans for Brunswick Executive Airport hinge on bringing in aviation businesses, specifically those geared toward manufacturing and maintenance, as opposed to airlines.

“We don’t see ourselves as a big airport competing with Portland,” said Levesque.

Brunswick is too close to Portland’s jetport for a passenger hub, and costs associated with such a venture would be too high anyway, Levesque said.

Nor is BXM in a good location for delivery companies such as UPS or FedEx, which would need to fly large jets out of the airport in early morning hours.

Among companies MRRA wants to attract are those focused on aircraft overhaul and maintenance, manufacturing, general aviation, and aerospace research and development. Two companies within that realm, Kestrel Aircraft and Tempus Jets, have located facilities at the airport.

Tempus Jets CEO Scott Terry said some of the reasons his company located a facility in Brunswick was the availability of hangar space that was large enough for multiple Boeing and Airbus aircraft. He also cited “the favorable tax environment and the quality of life for our employees” in an email to The Times Record.

“We plan to grow the business in Maine in a prudent fashion that should result in a significant maintenance, modification, and light manufacturing operation within five years,” wrote Terry.

Kestrel has invested $50 million in its operations at BXM, Levesque said.

Levesque noted how Kestrel initially wanted to design, manufacture, and test its airplane at Brunswick. However, Maine was not able to secure as much federal new market tax credits as Wisconsin. So Kestrel decided to assemble its aircraft in Superior, Wis., while performing design, component construction, finishing, testing and training at Brunswick.

“Kestrel, obviously, ran into some financial challenges,” Levesque said, noting the financial challenges in needing to raise $115 million before the company could generate any cash flow. “You need a lot of money to get there. You have to design and build the airplane to FAA specs. … It’s like certifying a drug.”

Efforts to reach a Kestrel representative for comment were unsuccessful.

Kestrel was one of the first companies to locate to Brunswick Landing in 2011, and takes up half of Hangar Six. The company had been reportedly beset by funding problems, and by 2013, had been struggling to pay rent to MRRA, as well as paying its own employees.

Levesque said he was hopeful Kestrel would be successful in its operations in Brunswick, but acknowledged its difficulties.

“Not every business will work or make it,” Levesque said, noting the failure of Integrated Marine Systems to make a go of it at Brunswick Landing and the sale of Resilient Communications to Oxford Networks. “You have to understand that not everyone is going to survive here.

“The challenge is, we’re competing with people all over the world for the same kind of businesses,” Levesque said. “Our incentive programs do not compare well to the southern and southwestern states.”

Levesque said the airport and its industries can succeed, in part, by luring businesses that already have a desire to operate in New England.

Aviation businesses may find logistics to be difficult due to the distance from suppliers in traditional aviation hubs such as South Florida, Texas, Kansas and California, according to Terry, and in some cases, weather could pose a problem for some aviation businesses such as flight schools. Maine property taxes also remain an obstacle.

“MRRA is doing an excellent job and we have a very good business relationship with them,” Terry said. “MRRA is doing everything they can to attract new business and having dealt with many airport authorities, MRRA is head and shoulders above the rest.”

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com