From dysfunctional to functional – Auburn-Lewiston Airport gains importance

AUBURN – Just over a year ago, the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport was a financial and organizational mess, with a bleak future and nearly a million dollars in debt.

“We’re at the other end of the spectrum,” Jim Platz said Thursday morning as he refueled his twin-engine Cessna after a flight from Boston. “We got everything going, replaced people, all the things we talked about. And now we’re well on our way.” Platz was referring to the financial, customer relations and safety issues he discussed with the Sun Journal last year.

Airport Director Jonathan LaBonte (right) talks with pilot Dr. Ken Wolf at Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport on Thursday. Wolf, former chairman of the airport board, is preparing for a flight to Vermont. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Platz and airport board member and pilot Marc Blais were among the people who denounced the airport’s downward spiral because they had always said they wanted a functioning airport that serves its customers and is self-sustaining.

Blais fought so hard against the previous board and administration that they tried to remove him. He fought against the sale of the property to Procter & Gamble’s Tambrands plant for a fraction of its value and prevailed. This was just one of many problems that have since been resolved.

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

For smaller airports like Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport, fuel sales are a major source of revenue. Industry experts say they are also a measure of the direction an airport is heading. But fuel sales are not the only source of revenue, and there has been a significant push to develop other revenue streams over the past 18 months.

The brand new self-service fuel pump, still wrapped in plastic, awaits the first day of self-service at Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport. In the background, Ethan Brown, line manager at FlightLevel Aviation, prepares to fuel an aircraft. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Last year, the Sun Journal reported that fuel sales were down 25% from previous years, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic. Fuel sales reported to the airport authority in July paint a very different picture.

The airport sells two types of aviation fuel: Jet A fuel and Avgas, or aviation gasoline.

Avgas sales in fiscal year 2024 increased 47% over fiscal year 2023 to 33,887 gallons, reaching a high since 2018.

Jet fuel sales increased 30% in fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2023, with the largest increase in the contract sales category. At 80% of jet fuel sales, sales reached the highest level in the last 10 years. Contract sales are pre-negotiated prices that pilots and aviation companies negotiate with suppliers at nationwide discounts. Cash and credit cards are other forms of payment the airport accepts.

Airport operations, typically measured in takeoffs and landings, roughly doubled from last year. Airport director Jonathan LaBonte said there were a number of reasons for the increase, with much of it attributed to Chickadee Aviation – the flight school that moved to Auburn in January.

“A lot of these operations are done by students who fly with the flight school,” LaBonte said Thursday. “If you want to have an airport long-term, you need people who can repair airplanes and people who can learn how to fly them.”

Another major factor in the increase in traffic and fuel sales is a humanitarian service called PALS (Patient Airlift Services), a non-profit organization that organizes free flights for patients who need medical diagnosis, treatment or follow-up and cannot or do not afford commercial air travel.

PALS and Angel Flight pilots use the Auburn Airport as a sort of layover on their way to and from medical facilities in larger cities and more rural areas of Maine. A PALS exchange was just one of the many flights at the airport Thursday morning.

Contractors from The Cote Corporation, Simard & Sons and Lakes Region Environmental move a fuel tank at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport in Auburn on August 7. Chris Wheelock/Sun Journal

Another change at the airport is the addition of self-service fueling stations for general aviation pilots – a measure that has been planned for about five years. On Aug. 7, construction companies Simard & Sons, The Cote Corporation and Lakes Region Environmental moved a 26,000-pound aviation fuel tank next to the terminal to make it more convenient for pilots. LaBonte said he hopes to have the self-service fueling station fully operational within a few weeks.

“It’s going to make a big difference,” Platz said. “It’s going to change the whole fueling facility and make it even better.” Pilot Art Faulk, a retiree who spends summers at his home in Naples, was fueling up for a flight to Bar Harbor with his friend and copilot Thursday morning. He said he’ll definitely use the self-service pump, explaining that it opens the airport to pilots who need to fly outside of airport business hours and can now fuel up whenever they want – a first for the airport.

Blais, an airport board member and pilot, has been an advocate for the self-service pump since he first became involved at the airport years ago and said he was very moved Thursday when he spoke about the change. “For me personally, this is a great achievement.”

LaBonte agrees that there is a lot of excitement about what some people may consider a minor change, adding that the switch to a self-service avgas pump will undoubtedly have a positive impact on future fuel sales as it will provide 24/7 access to the airport.

“Without a doubt,” said LaBonte, “fuel prices will be competitive and people will be able to come and go as their schedule dictates, not ours.”

NEW PROJECTS IN SIGHT

The airport’s largest hangar, abandoned by Elite Airways in the summer of 2022, remains available for lease or sale, but has a practical, albeit temporary, purpose: to house Auburn tenants who occupied a hangar on the airport’s east ramp or apron.

Art Faulk prepares to take off for Bar Harbor after refueling at the Auburn airport. Faulk, a retiree, has owned a home in Naples for 27 years and said he is looking forward to being able to refuel his plane himself soon. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Chickadee Aviation and Sunbird Aviation, which signed five-year leases earlier this year, now occupy the “white hangar.”

“But when the flight school and Sunbird Aviation came, we offered them Hangar No. 5,” explains LaBonte, “we didn’t want to lose the tenants who were here.” The larger hangar is also used by more aircraft and brings in additional income.

Construction of new hangars is moving forward, one with private development funds and the other with state funds funded under a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) special grant led by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-1st District). The first hangar to be built is a 6,500-square-foot hangar, with construction expedited next year. The second project, 10 smaller T-hangars built in a row but with separate areas, will take a few years to realize.

“Increasing the number of tenants here is a top priority,” LaBonte stressed. “With operators like Dirigo, Skyward Aviation … Sunbird, the flight school, people are going to want to be located near those services.”

Recognition where recognition is due

Dr. Ken Wolf flies past airplane hangars as he departs Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport on Thursday. Traffic at Auburn Airport has nearly doubled in the past year due to the opening of a flight school, humanitarian flights and an increase in general aviation use. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

There are now three maintenance shops at the airport, and LaBonte says he wants to get younger students interested in aviation and plans to work with the Lewiston Regional Technical Center and high schools to set up an aviation program.

While the airport is not yet fully self-sufficient, it is well on its way to becoming so in the near future. Many of the changes have been driven by LaBonte, the former mayor of Auburn. Blais, however, had high praise for LaBonte’s work over the past two years, which has led to a turnaround despite his political background.

“He doesn’t just do what he’s told,” Blais said. “He does his homework, he learns the process and he listens to the pilots,” he added. “Absolutely,” was Blais’ response when asked if the airport has been improved during LaBonte’s tenure.

“Marc defined how everything should be structured – especially the personnel,” Platz explained. “And then Jonathan came and implemented it. That’s basically how the whole thing changed.”

Dirigo Aerospace Solutions is one of the maintenance companies and is owned by Mark and Kate McGhee. “We appreciate the vision for the future of our current airport management and their willingness to work with the McGhees’ out-of-the-box thinking,” they said in an email Thursday.

“We have a dynamic aviation community here…busy aircraft maintenance shops on the east and west ramps that enjoy working together, a vibrant flight school, a close and incredibly generous humanitarian effort and a fantastic, conscientious airport operations team.”

This is quite a turn of events and mood compared to last year.

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