Airplane manufacturer opens at Caro airport
Stephen O’Connor, left, and Rick Hayes, right, are co-owners of Midwest Sky Sports L.L.C., which recently launched operations at the Tuscola Area Airport in Caro.
Activity at the Tuscola Area Airport is taking off now that a small aircraft manufacturer has opened shop in a long dormant hangar — a move that could prove an economic boon to the area, say those involved.
Midwest Sky Sports L.L.C. signed a lease with the airport in November, but is now hitting its stride, already building and servicing small airplanes for customers across the country.
The company has seven employees in Caro, and co-owner Stephen O’Connor says he expects that number to grow as business ramps up.
He credits the Tuscola Area Airport Authority with “bending over backwards” to help Midwest Sky Sports find a home, especially after the business seemed to encounter one obstacle after another in Lapeer, where the business was going to originally set up.
“(The TAAA board) have been nothing but gracious to us,” O’Connor said. “They really wanted us here and have been nothing but totally on our side.
“When went from someone kind of fighting us a little bit (in Lapeer), to a place where everyone is saying ‘Welcome,’” O’Connor said. (Read more)
(This story originally appeared in the Feb. 11, 2017 print edition of The Tuscola County Advertiser and can be read online in its entirety here.)