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Port authority getting close to recommending deal for three new hangars at airport
By Ed Runyan
VIENNA
A follow-up meeting Tuesday at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport involving Joseph Kerola, president of PI&I Motor Express of Sharon, Pa., and Hubbard, suggested that a multimillion-dollar hangar expansion may not be far off.
Kerola has provided members of the board of directors of the Western Reserve Port Authority with drawings and plans for three new hangars he would like to build on airport property near the terminal.
The three hangars would equal about 80,000 square feet and cost $10 million to $15 million.
Two of the hangars would house corporate and private aircraft, including his own in the first building, plus aircraft from friends he believes would join him in the venture.
A second hangar would be a service building for corporate and private aircraft. It would have catering, meeting rooms, fueling, a lounge for passengers and possibly space for aircraft repairs, Kerola said. The third hangar also would be for housing aircraft.
Kerola went to the port authority’s aviation committee Tuesday hoping for a commitment that the committee would recommend the project for approval to the full port authority board.
But Atty. David Detec, a board member, said the group decided in a closed-door meeting that it’s too early to give Kerola the go-ahead or a recommendation to the full board until the Federal Aviation Administration approves Kerola’s use of an apron now used by Winner Aviation, the longtime service provider already at the airport.
Kerola says the apron is underutilized, and the first hangar he would build for his own aircraft and several others would add only about one use of the apron per day.
Detec said the committee would probably give a positive recommendation immediately to building two of the hangars a short distance away from the Winner hangar if Kerola is interested in building there.
But there are also legal questions to work out with Winner Aviation before recommending the project, Detec said.
As for going into competition with Winner Aviation to provide services, Kerola said drawing more aircraft to the airport through the new hangars will be good for Winner and all other corporations at the airport.