A former Air Force base near the Canadian border with two 12,100-ft. runways that used to launch Boeing B-52 bombers during the Cold War could fuel new growth in Maine's aviation and aerospace industry.
Steve Levesque, a consultant under contract from the state government to lead business development at the Loring Commerce Centre in the Aroostook County town of Limestone, has estimated that $50 million to $75 million is needed in public money to develop a public airport at the former base.
Mainebiz reported Aug. 21 that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has so far provided a $740,000 grant, matched by $85,000 from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (MDECD), to fund an airport master plan, an energy resiliency study and a regional workforce assessment.
The critical next step would be to gain designation as a public-use airport in the national system, which Levesque plans to secure over the next 12 to 15 months.
"It involves being able to make a business case for desired uses of the airport," said Levesque, the former executive director of the Midcoast Regional Development Authority, who led the metamorphosis of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station into a thriving business hub.
Now a consultant with SHL Enterprise Solutions, Levesque said he sees opportunities at Loring in areas from large aircraft maintenance and repairs to horizontal satellite launches.
"There are some really exciting markets that we're trying to access," he told Mainebiz.
At Loring, Levesque added, "the bones are good, but they need a little updating, just like in Brunswick, which is why we want to get into the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] system."
The Aroostook County site also offers uncluttered airspace in a rural, sparsely populated region in Maine's high north.
Updated Airport Is ‘Key to Development'
Besides Maine's longest runways, the 1,600-acre Loring aviation complex includes an unused control tower, a rusty arched hangar spacious enough to accommodate wide-body aircraft, plus hundreds of acres of ramp space, a parallel taxiway and buildings of various sizes.
When completed in 1949, the 106,750 sq.-ft. Loring Arch Hangar was the largest arch roof structure in the country, capable of servicing two B-36 bombers simultaneously.
Since 1997, Loring International Airport has operated as a private take-off and landing spot for small aircraft. Last summer, a B-52 made a guest appearance at the site for a ceremonial visit organized by the Loring Air Museum.
Forty-one businesses also operate at Loring today, according to Mainebiz, the largest of which is the Defense Finance Accounting Service, an arm of the DOD with close to 600 employees in the state. The agency is a tenant of Green 4 Maine LLC, a development company in talks to bring an aerospace startup to Loring.
Despite its profile as Maine's largest commercial and industrial park, local and state officials see a bright future for the site as a public airport.
"The airport is the key to development of new businesses in the aviation and aerospace sector," said Carl Flora, president and CEO of the Loring Development Authority, in speaking with Mainebiz. "Those businesses will touch off demand for products and support services provided by other businesses. While we operate as a private airport now, without the support of the FAA's airport improvement program and the military airports program, we can't afford to make significant improvements and upgrades necessary for the airport's continued use."
FAA funding covers a wide range of projects from runways to navigational aids, lighting and fueling systems — all of which are important "to support the more intensive level of aviation and aerospace uses that we envision," Flora said.
Aerospace Outlook Looks Bullish
The effort to turn Loring into a public airport comes amid a bullish outlook for aerospace nationwide over the next 20 years, as laid out in an FAA report published in May.
Besides predicting a 2.7 percent average annual jump in U.S. carrier domestic passenger growth between 2023 and 2043, the agency forecasts an increase in space launch and re-entry activity over the next five years. The agency attributes much of the momentum to the lineup of reusable vehicles and expectations for increased human space exploration.
Another plus for Loring's future use would be the availability of another airport for LifeFlight of Maine for medical emergencies.
Runways and taxiways are available for private use at Loring, but public designation would make the facility useable for a variety of aircraft and allow for night-time and poor-weather operations.
Next Steps Toward Development
Loring Air Force Base, established in 1947, was named for Maj. Charles J. Loring Jr., a World War II fighter pilot who was later killed in action in Korea in November 1952, posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor.
The base was closed in 1994 and later redeveloped by the Loring Development Authority as an industrial park known as the Loring Commerce Centre, anchored by the airport.
A 1995 plan to repurpose the former base evaluated Loring's aviation assets and stayed in a holding pattern for more than two decades. Not until 2019 and 2021 did strategic plans identify aviation as a promising long-term development opportunity.
Today, plans are being drawn up to convert Loring into a public airport under contract from the Loring Development Authority, funded by $540,000 out of the $740,000 Pentagon grant.
The process is expected to take around 12 months and will involve participation from state and local stakeholders, as well as input from the FAA, according to the Maine DECD.
Once Loring is recognized as a public airport, it would be followed by a capital improvement to be implemented in phases over the next five to 10 years, added Levesque.
Lofty Space Ambitions for Loring
Loring's redevelopment ambitions also include putting Maine on the map in the new space economy by supporting activities such as the testing and development of drones and autonomous land vehicles.
It also could play a key role in the envisioned Maine Space Complex.
Still in the early planning stages, the complex would consist of a virtual Space Data and Advanced Analytics Center, a New Space Innovation Hub at Brunswick Landing with a hub or branch at Loring Commerce Centre, and coastal launch sites and services.
Horizontal satellite launches from Brunswick Landing and Loring would be part of that.
Keeping an eye on Loring's trajectory is Sascha Deri, founder and CEO of Brunswick Landing-based bluShift Aerospace. The nine-employee rocket startup made history at Loring in January 2021 with the world's first commercial launch of a rocket powered by biofuel.
"Right now, our plan is to do vertical launches off the coast of Maine, but it's possible that our engines could be used in horizontal launch vehicles at some point in the future," Deri told Mainebiz. "We could see that future customers of ours could incorporate our engine technology into their horizontal launch vehicles strapped underneath planes, and Loring has a uniquely long runway that would be particularly well-suited to support this type of launch."
Today's top stories
