Up, up and away.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: NC TREND: Eastern Region

In a 20,000-square-foot hangar with a glistening floor that could pass for the home ice of Raleigh's Carolina Hurricanes, North State Aviation landed in Kinston's Global TransPark in September 2015 with high hopes. By now, it expected to have invested nearly $1 million and hired 109 people in high-paying aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul jobs. When the Winston-Salem-based company pulled the plug in March after losing the business of Chicago-based United Airlines, it cut 345 jobs, in addition to those promised for Kinston. It was a comedown for the TransPark and a somber note for the state's aviation industry.

"We were disappointed," says Lenoir County Economic Development Director Mark Pope. "We don't like to see anyone losing jobs or business. But they'd only gotten up to about 17 [employees] here, and when you have an empty hangar that size, you're going to get some looks. We've already got a couple of projects that might fit in that building."

The North State decision carries two lessons. First, after 20 years of ups and downs, the controversial, state-owned TransPark has reached a mass that allows it to absorb setbacks without wrenching questions about its future.

TransPark interim Director Rick Barkes cites a 2016 study by the N.C. Department of Transportation that estimates the aviation-themed industrial park's economic impact at about $452 million, fueled by key tenant Spirit AeroSystems. The Wichita, Kan.-based company's future in Kinston was boosted last fall when its client, European plane maker Airbus, extended its contract to make the...