By: Pam Allen
Richmor Aviation is building a $1.2 million hangar at the Schenectady County Airport to serve the upstate New York region’s growing technology sector.
The 20,000-square-foot hangar will house up to four business jets, and essentially doubles the amount of existing hangar space on the property.
Construction will begin in late spring or early summer, and take three months. The general contractor is Plank Construction of Schenectady.
Richmor is finalizing its loan plans, officials there said.
Richmor, headquartered at the Columbia County Airport in Hudson, has a third operation at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh. In Schenectady, where it employs 100 people, it operates from a 24-acre site on the flight line.
The privately owned Richmor is the “fixed-base operator” for private personal and corporate jets that use those airports, meaning it provides primary support services that range from fueling and aircraft rental, to maintenance and flight instruction.
Mahlon Richards, Richmor’s president, said Schenectady is prime for expansion because it’s close to so many new and expanding tech ventures.
For example, Richmor is seeing a spike in customers that do business with General Electric and GlobalFoundries, and with companies that are part of the research consortium at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany.
“So many new technology ventures are within minutes of this airport. It is a convenient location and is perfect for time-critical flights that local technology companies require to visit their national or international affiliates,” Richards said.
The Schenectady airport is also home to the Stratton Air National Guard Base and an Armed Forces Reserve Center.
http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/blog/2013/04/new-12-million-hangar-for.html