BRUNSWICK – A discount airline like JetBlue or Southwest doesn’t represent the best use for Brunswick Naval Air Station’s new control tower and dual runways when the base closes in 2011, according to a team of aviation consultants.
Hosting a commercial airline represents the least desirable option among five aviation scenarios considered by the team, according to Boston-based Edwards and Kelcey, which presented its conclusions last week to members of a redevelopment panel.
The consultants concluded that the market could not support a commercial airport.
But they did recommend that the Brunswick base be preserved for other types of civilian aviation uses, such as a landing field for corporate jets, a flight school or a manufacturing site for aircraft components.
“Everything we’ve heard so far indicates there won’t be a commercial passenger airline at Naval Air Station Brunswick,” said Jeffrey Jordan, deputy director of the Brunswick Local Redevelopment Authority.
The redevelopment authority, the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration hired Edwards and Kelcey for $200,000 to study the feasibility of converting the naval base into some type of civilian aviation use.
Principal airport planner Stephen Berardo said he relied on interviews with commercial airlines and an FAA study to reach his conclusions.
The FAA study found that roughly 60 percent of the southern Maine market was traveling to airports in Manchester, N.H., and Boston instead of the closest existing airport, the Portland International Jetport.
And airlines told Berardo they had doubts about drawing passengers to Brunswick. Commercial airlines “told me the Brunswick market would have trouble generating enough traffic,” he said.
The more feasible options for Brunswick involve reusing the base runways and hangars for general aviation purposes such as corporate jet flights, government or military aviation research, as well as aircraft maintenance, repairs and manufacturing, he said.
Edwards and Kelcey’s aviation study will be incorporated into a broader study that examines redevelopment options for the entire base.
“We’re not making a statement that the aviation use is a higher or better than any other use,” Berardo said. “All we are saying is that the Navy is going to be turning over an airport that is in good to excellent condition.”
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