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"The state airport just south of town has rarely proven busy enough to lure much investment in recent years. Its two-room terminal dates back to 1940. There are no facilities for a charter jet to spend a winter night under cover.But that was before Bill Stenger and the development team that transformed Jay Peak Resort turned their sights last year on the rest of the Northeast Kingdom, and Newport in particular.Stenger is hoping to generate at least five thousand new private sector jobs in the region by raising $300-500 million from foreign investors. The EB-5 capital will finance construction of a new hotel and conference center, new manufacturing, a biomedical research facility, and modernization of a second ski resort at Burke Mountain.Suddenly, the once sleepy state airport might need a facelift.\"The future of this airport revolves around more commercial activity and private aviation usage, it revolves around the expansion and development of the aviation vacation,\" Stenger said Thursday.With Gov. Peter Shumlin at his side, Stenger and other regional developers had just announced that Flight Design USA, a subsidiary of a German aircraft manufacturer, would open an assembly and distribution plant at the airport next year.The company makes \"light sport\" planes that cost $130,000 apiece. They can fly a thousand miles and run on automotive gasoline.\"It's unique in that it's got a carbon fiber airframe. advanced avionics, and a ballistic parachute system,\" said Tom Peghiny, President of Flight Design. The company will hire about 25 people at the assembly plant early next year.Stenger and his business partner at Q Aviation are purchasing three of the airplanes which will support a new flight training school at the airport.The concept is to offer visitors the opportunity to couple a resort vacation with learning to fly.\"We'll offer intensive flight training and instruction for a far more affordable price that was historically the case in the industry,\" Stenger says, calling it a \"new idea and a worldwide market.\"\u00A0Beyond that, officials anticipate substantially more private aviation activity at the Newport airport, driven by a range of development projects now in the pipeline.State plans include construction of a new terminal -- and at least six aircraft hangars\u00A0 -- likely over the next three years.The Federal Aviation Administration is now considering an application to fund a thousand foot extension to the current 4,000 foot runway to accommodate larger planes.Shumlin says it's an example of the best kind of public-private partnership -- federal, state, local and plenty of private investment.\u00A0The state's contribution has not been determined, he said.The governor and others spoke at an existing airport hangar which has just been transformed by a private entrepreneur. Parker Pie, a stylish new restaurant serving handmade pizza and craft beer, will open in coming days at the airport.Suddenly, the Newport State Airport might soon take off."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.mynbc5.com/article/major-improvements-slated-for-newport-airport/3310309>