The airport operator and flight school at the Mansfield Municipal Airport in Massachusetts has gone out of business, and is advising its student pilots to pursue their training through a Boston-area aero club.
King Aviation-Mansfield, which operated the airport for 25 years, closed its doors as of April 1, declaring bankruptcy three years into its current 10-year lease, according to a local newspaper report.
The business’s owner cited a shortage of flight instructors as a causal factor in the closing, the article said.
The Mansfield Airport Commission was scheduled to hold an executive session on matters related to the fixed-base operation on April 21.
Several of King Aviation-Mansfield’s flight instructors have joined the staff of the East Coast Aero Club, and have been followed there by some of their students, said Mark Holzwarth, president of the organization that operates from airports in nearby Norwood and Bedford, Massachusetts, and Nashua, New Hampshire.
The East Coast Aero Club considered bidding to take over airport operations in Mansfield—which is 23 nautical miles southwest of Boston—but has decided against making an offer, he said.
A message on the closed business’s website informed customers that “King Aviation-Mansfield, Inc. will no longer be offering flight training or aircraft rental,” and advised them to contact the aero club “to further your training or for aircraft rental. Some former King instructors are already working there.”
“Thank you for letting us be part of your flying dream,” says the message from business operator Kelley Dinneen and her brother David Dinneen.
