Growing industry on the flightline

PLATTSBURGH | Like an aircraft emerging from a misty fog onto a runway, business at Plattsburgh International Airport (PBG) is coming clearly into focus. The addition of Breeze Airways with its first flights to Orlando and Tampa, FL, in February, has added commercial traffic to the terminal.

But a hub of activity a mile down the flightline renews the airport's sense of place for industry.

On a spring-like, rainy day in December, a drive around the airport property reveals the scope of how big the PBG Airport Industrial Park is; and how redevelopment is steadily moving forward to reuse buildings shuttered here nearly three decades ago.

Clinton County Industrial Development Agency Executive Director Molly Ryan said expansion at the Airport Industrial Park is well underway.

"The airport is so much more than commercial air service. It is home to many up-and-coming companies spurring growth in the North Country," she said in an interview.

"There are businesses like Smardt Chillers Inc., specializing in industrial air conditioning systems that are oil free. Vapor Stone Rail Systems is a company that manufactures passenger doors and passenger door systems for different companies all over the world.

"You've got some relatively large employers right there at this important hub at the airport. We've been able to make use of those buildings that were once part of the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base. It's a hidden gem. And it generates about $1 million for the county in rent every year."

BETA Technologies is also growing in the industrial park. The Burlington-based company just announced a $41 million expansion with support from New York State. The aeronautical design company pland to renovate their current space and add a new building, bringing 85 jobs, aircraft painting, electric aircraft flight testing and delivery to its site here.

PBG Director Christopher Kreig said some of the industry that landed on the former base is aircraft and flight related, but not all.

"The business park is part of airport operations," he said. "We work with companies to help make the right fit. Quite a lot has happened since the airport was built in 2007."

It's been a process over 16 years, he said, removing some structures, retrofitting hangers with military-grade sliding doors across the front of the entire building.

In one renovated set of hangars, Grand Canyon Scenic Air operates a cargo service for UPS. Another thousand feet down the line, another row of hangars is about to undergo similar restoration.

The county is working to reuse all of the airport, Kreig said.

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