West Star Aviation opened a new 60,000-sq-ft hangar at its East Alton, Illinois facility this week, allowing the company to expand existing business aircraft maintenance programs. Two-thirds of the recently completed structure is for hangar space, with the remainder containing back shops and offices. In addition, West Star will initially employ 28 technicians to support the expansion.

“With the new hangar completion, we occupy over 380,000 square feet of space at the St. Louis Regional Airport," said West Star East Alton general manager Scott Sweeney. “Having a new hangar provides us the added capacity to continue offering world-class service to our customers and ensure we meet requested deadlines."

West Star specializes in the repair and maintenance of airframes, windows, and engines, as well as major modifications, avionics installation and repair, interior refurbishment, surplus avionics sales, accessory services, paint, and parts. Besides its primary MRO facilities in East Alton; Grand Junction, Colorado; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Perryville, Missouri, the company maintains eight satellite facilities throughout the U.S. Midwest and Southwest. It also offers FBO services at its newly remodeled East Alton and Grand Junction facilities.