Aviation View - Oct 2023

44 AVIATION VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 Former fire chief Bryan Burr manages the airport. We recently spoke with him about what’s making the CMA truly take off these days. “Claremont is kind of a unique community,” Burr observed. “We’re industrial––blue- collar, specifically, if you will.” Airports are always big financial drivers. They’re the gateways to the cities they serve. You might say that they propel local economies and can make or break them. A city’s economy and related economic development can fly (or fall), based upon a local airport bringing in faraway business leaders, investors and new industries. Burr continued that as the 19th century gave way to the 20th, the community metamorphosed from a textile mills-based economy to one based upon machinery. Eventually, the deep recession of the 1970’s had a most deleterious effect upon Claremont and countless other such American communities. By the early 1980’s, the machine-tool industry was more and more dominated by overseas competitors, until before long, they outright took it over, Burr informed. “We had a lot of lost jobs in the community, back in the ’80’s, from the machine-tool industry,” he said, “so we became more of a service- oriented community and more retail and such.” But these days, the machine-tool industry has seen something of a local and regional comeback, he added, albeit on a smaller scale. Re the airport specifically, there’s good news on the horizon. By the end of this year, said Burr, the CMA will see about $7 million in improvements. Ninety percent of this will be funded by the FAA, he added, and five percent will come from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation Bureau of Aeronautics. And there will also be a five percent local match. “Because we do generate some income at the airport,” Burr informed, explaining that the CMA is home to two commercial properties that add to the tax base because of the land they lease. In addition, there are both privately-maintained and leased hangar spaces. And there’s a small aviation repair-and-inspection business, Ascutney Aviation, owned and operated by Stephen Keen and also located on CMA property. More about Burr and the CMA A native Claremonter, born and bred, Burr got into the fire service in 1988. He spent more than three decades as a full-time firefighter. In 2018, he became a fire department chief, and he also took on the role of being the CMA’s manager. “Which is a unique position,” he added. Burr recently retired from the fire service. But for a time, he revealed, he was the only person to combine the duties of a fire chief with those of an airport manager in the Granite State. “And probably all of New England, for that matter!” he continued with a hearty chuckle. It meant juggling two very different balls.