First Jet Repair Center Breaks Ground

Aviation Material & Technical Support, based in Chesterfield (MO), will be operational in March, at MidAmerica Airport (BLV), on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, in Mascoutah, near Belleville (IL). They broke ground on a 27,000 square foot repair facility last week, in support of the anticipated 1000 or so jet operations the airport expectes to see each month, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

AVMATS provides a full range of parts and services for Sabreliner, Hawker, Falcon, Gulfstream, Jetstar, Lear, Challenger, Westwind, Citation, Beechjet, King Air and other corporate jet aircraft. MidAmerica, with its two 150-foot-wide runways (8001 and 10000 feet long), should start to see increasing traffic, due to St Louis's importance in its own right, and the center-nation location of the heavy-duty concrete, serviced by talent such as comes from AVMATS.

Although Pan Am, the only commercial airline that used MidAmerica, stopped its flights there over a year ago, Aviation Material sees this as a good time to get in, as the airport (converted from the former Scott AFB to civilian use in 1997 at a cost of over $300 million) is experiencing a lull in activity; the company signed a 25-year lease on the property.

There are plans to employ about 20 people there, and be a drawing card for regular scheduled and charter flying, that should use MidAmerica as a reliever/feeder for Lambert Field, 20-some miles to the west.

FMI: www.avmats.com