Rollin’ On the River

West Star Aviation has broken ground on a major expansion of its Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility on East Alton, Illinois’s St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN).

Dubbed Hangar 67, subject expansion will add 75,700-square-feet of space to West Star’s ALN operation, boosting the facility’s total size to just over half-a-million square feet of hangar, back shop, and space for aircraft modifications and painting. Included in the expansion are 40,000-square-feet of new hangar capacity, 22,300-square-feet of additional back shop space, and 13,400-square-feet of additional storage space.

West Star Aviation CEO Jim Rankin stated: "The current expansion project for East Alton will ensure West Star Aviation will be well positioned to meet our customers' needs.”

Speaking to the subject of the ground-breaking’s significance, West Star vice-president of project management Mike Zada remarked: "It is the realization of our vision for growth, and our vision for reinvesting in West Star Aviation.”

All told, West Star Aviation employs nearly six-hundred workers at the St. Louis Regional Airport.

West Star Aviation has contracted its ALN expansion to Contegra Construction and the St. Louis Regional Airport authority. Provided construction proceeds apace, the project should wrap up in early spring 2024.

West Star ALN general manager Brian Bauwens opined: "The recent rapid growth in the MRO industry has accelerated the need to add additional space to our facilities, allowing us to better serve our valued customers in a timely manner.”

Mr. Bauwens set forth the ALN expansion will create between sixty and eighty new positions at West Star. St. Louis Regional Airport director Danny Adams noted both he and Mr. Bauwens started in their respective positions contemporaneously.

"We both came in, and I think our first meeting was, 'Let's build something,'" Mr. Adams recalled. "Here we are a year later and we're already breaking ground on a new hangar."

Illinois state senator Erica Harris (Republican, Glen Carbon) suggested West Star’s expansion signified the aviation industry’s importance to the west-central Illinois region, stating: "By expanding our aviation infrastructure, we're creating opportunities for economic development, job creation, and increased connectivity for our region.”

Illinois State Representative Amy Elik (Republican, Alton) echoed Harris’s sentiments, averring: "Our community knows what an asset [West Star] is to the entire region and appreciate the services [West Star] provides.”

Bethalto Mayor Gary Bost expressed gratitude for West Star’s investment in the community (notwithstanding its Alton mailing address, St. Louis Regional Airport falls within the boundaries of the village of Bethalto, Illinois), remarking: "The relationship we formed with the St. Louis Regional Airport and West Star is unlimited in what we're going to perform in the next few years.”

FMI: https://www.weststaraviation.com/locations/east-alton