TAKING FLIGHT IN JOHNSTOWN

Reporter

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Officials at the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for a new business park at the Johnstown airport called the development "a game changer", "a unique opportunity", "an important milestone" and "a fantastic chance to succeed."

The ceremony celebrated work beginning next year on the 138-acre Mid-Atlantic Opportunity Park on the airfield of John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Richland Township.

Construction of a loop road and utilities for the park will begin next spring, to be followed by new buildings that include a 100,000-square-foot hangar that could serve as an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for large jets.

Airport officials, a business owner and elected leaders break ground for the public-private partnership's Mid-Atlantic Opportunity Park coming next year to John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.

"What we are really looking for at the opportunity park is just that: An opportunity for businesses to come here," said Larry Nulton, chairman of park developer Cambrian Hills Development Corp. and co-founder of Nulton Aviation Services, the airport's fixed base operator.

"We wanted to be able to incentivize them and really increase our economic development," Nulton continued.

The opportunity park goes hand in hand with Nulton Aviation Flight Academy's partnership with St. Francis University's aviation program and a push to bring aviation classes to Pennsylvania's high schools, middle schools and elementary schools.

Nulton said when his team did a feasibility study for new businesses, people kept telling him the region doesn't have a workforce to support the industry. He counters that Boutique Air was able to bring in more than 30 aviation maintenance workers within eight months of opening its former facility on the airfield.

"That was a neat testimony to say that we could do it," Nulton said Thursday.

Participants in the Mid-Atlantic Opportunity Park groundbreaking ceremony, from left to right, Cambria County Commissioner Scott Hunt, state Rep. Jim Rigby, state Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., U.S. Rep. John Joyce, Larry Nulton, co-founder of Nulton Aviation, Rick McQuaide, John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport chairman, Cambria County Commissioner Tom Chernisky, Cambria County Commissioner B.J. Smith, Cory Cree, John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport manager, and Tara Santore, Pa. State Department of Community Development program manager, at the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport on Thursday, June 1, 2023.

But that's when Nulton and others began to develop the aviation education push to build a local workforce.

"We want to educate the kids to keep them here but we needed the industry to be here," he said.

That's what led to the opportunity park idea.

"What we are after is just to keep our community healthy and alive," he said.

U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-Blair, said the opportunity park will do more than that.

"Thank you for celebrating such an important milestone for the aviation industry right here in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District," Joyce said. "Breaking ground for the opportunity park is a signpost that the Johnstown area is open for business and ready to lead in the field of aviation."

State Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Richland Township, also predicted great things from the development.

"Game changer. That's what this opportunity park is for this region, as well as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Langerholc said. "This opportunity park will transform this region for future generations. We are ahead of the curve.

"We are going to be not just a regional leader, not just a state leader, but a national leader in this industry."

State Rep. James Rigby, R-Ferndale, listed the other incentives already in place at the airport. The opportunity park fills the airport's Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone, which gives tax breaks to businesses locating there. More tax credits are available because the location is part of a state land development zone and a federal Foreign Trade Zone.

"These incentives – when you factor in the favorable cost of living we have, the great universities and school districts we have and the existing aviation ecosystem – give everyone locating to this Mid-Atlantic Opportunity Park a fantastic chance to succeed," Rigby said.

Larry Nulton, co-founder of Nulton Aviation, takes the podium prior to a groundbreaking ceremony for the Mid-Atlantic Opportunity Park at the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport on Thursday, June 1, 2023.

Several of the speakers gave tribute to the airport's namesake, the late John Murtha, who served as the region's congressman for more than 35 years.

U.S. Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Centre, called Murtha his mentor when he was first elected to Congress in 2009.

"Jack was a problem-solver and a collaborator by nature and always had the well-being of the country in mind for any decisions he made," Thompson said. "While it's incredible to see that spirit alive and live on in the Southern Alleghenies, Jack laid the groundwork in the region decades ago. Now the entirety of everything happening at the airport bearing his name has been designed to meet the aviation workforce needs of the country."

Nulton said flying to other airports gave him an appreciation of the John Murtha facility.

"Mr. Murtha left us a wonderful airport – probably one of the nicest in the country," Nulton said. "This is a unique opportunity."

He listed the airport's 7,000-foot runway, on-site radar system, control tower and other assets.

"Mr. Murtha would be proud that our plan for this airport is to build an aviation-related industrial park that services both general aviation and commercial aviation right here on the airfield," McQuaide said.

The groundbreaking ceremony, held inside the Nulton Aviation main hangar, also served as the closing session for the three-day Aerium Summit. The trade show and conference explored ways to expand and promote aviation education.

Randy Griffith is a multimedia reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5057. Follow him on Twitter @PhotoGriffer57.

A former undersecretary of the Army called the Aerium Summit's aviation education mission a "national security issue."

Reporter

Randy Griffith is a multimedia reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 532-5057. Follow him on Twitter @PhotoGriffer57.