WESTFIELD – A private project to build three new aircraft hangars at Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport broke ground last week.

The hangar project is a $3 million to $4 million investment by a new company, Exit 3 Aviation. Alex Colby, a Westfield resident and the company’s president, said the hangars are already rented at 75 percent of capacity. Colby – a Barnes pilot himself – identified the market for additional hangar space by looking at how many airplanes are parked on the field at Barnes.

“There’s a really big shortage with aircraft hangars, in general,” Colby said.

Willenborg said there are 130 aircraft currently based at the airport, with about 50,000 takeoffs and landings per year. The airport serves general aviation and business flights, as well as hosting an Air National Guard base and its jet fighters.

Colby sighed a 30-year lease on the 2.39-acre property off Airport Road, and plans to build three hangars, of about 9,000 to 12,000 square feet each, to provide indoor parking for 15 airplanes. The hangars would accommodate propeller planes and small private jets. He told the Planning Board last year that the largest craft to be stored there will be a 40-foot, six-person Citation Mustang jet.

The buildings also include restrooms, kitchen and office space, so that airplane owners can use Exit 3 as a base to conduct business while visiting Westfield.

At the groundbreaking, Colby accepted citations from the state Legislature presented by state Sen. John Velis and state Rep. Kelly Pease commending his family for investing in the community and the airport.

With work already underway, the new hangars are expected to open by the start of 2023, “probably sooner,” Colby said.