VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Bringing back several laid-off employees and a potential paint booth operation are among the items on the agenda of the new owner of the former Winner Aviation at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
The aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul – or MRO – operation is expected to reopen as Jets Mx Center in January following a reorganization, said Mike Hillman, president. Mx is an abbreviation for maintenance in the aviation industry, he said.
Hillman and Doug McConnell, co-owners of Jets FBO, the airport’s fixed-base operation, purchased the assets of the aircraft MRO operation from former owner Rick Hale in mid-December, Hillman said. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
Winner Aviation has been at the airport since 1995, when Hale acquired what had been Aero Services. The purchase price was confidential, and the deal remains subject to approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, Hillman said. Hillman, who previously worked for Winner Aviation, has been at the airport for 25 years and acquired the FBO in 2019.
Until recently, there had been negotiations continuing with various parties for the sale of Winner’s assets, according to Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, which operates the airport.
“From my understanding, they had been winding down service. But in 2024 there were services being provided,” he said.
Buying the MRO “wasn’t on my list of things to do here in December,” either from a capital or intellectual standpoint, Hillman acknowledged. Other potential purchasers “were off the field” and wanted to relocate the operation.
At this point, the purchase only involves the certificate that allows the new company to repair aircraft, he said. He is leasing Winner Aviation’s tools but plans to eventually purchase the equipment. He has retained two existing employees and plans to bring back another dozen who were laid off in August.
“Ultimately, what we want to do is expand [the MRO] and give it a new direction,” he said. “I’d like to focus on a couple modern make and model aircraft that are here on the field now, and I’d also like to investigate the likelihood of putting in a paint booth for aircraft, because there’s huge national demand for aircraft painting but limited slots and paint booths.”
Trevena praised Hale’s commitment to the airport over the decades but is enthusiastic about the “next generation” of leadership coming on.
“There’s a lot of things you can do with an MRO,” including getting into different types of airframe, he continued. There is a small paint booth in one of the hangars, and growing that business to handle larger aircraft potentially would be “pretty exciting,” he said.
Hillman hailed the port authority for its support and said keeping the MRO there was “the right thing” for the airfield.
“I think we can grow it,” he said.
Pictured at top: Mike Hillman, co-owner of Jets FBO.