Beverly Airport Commission Recommends New Manager Hire

BEVERLY, MA — Gabriel Hanafin, who served as the interim airport manager for six months at Quincy Regional Airport in Illinois, was recommended as the new Beverly Airport manager at a meeting of the Airport Commission Monday night.

Pending a contract agreement, Hanafin will take over the Beverly Airport both at a time of dramatic growth in traffic as well as frustrations over the increased volume, noise and potential pollution implications of that growth among neighbors.

Hanafin earned the nod as the first choice by all five voting commissioners over Scott Anderson, the airport security coordinator at Sacramento International Airport, William Hamor, a U.S. Army veteran and customer service professional in the technology industry who lives in Beverly, and James Nall, airport manager at Brunswick Executive Airport in Maine.

The four finalists out of a field of 20 were asked during last week's public interviews about their experience in the aviation industry, business qualifications to run an airport and their ability to deliver community outreach after mounting complaints from neighbors about airport noise and pollution concerns from leaded fuel in recent years.

"This commission is very committed to doing as much as we can," Commission Co-Chair Paul Trefry said Monday night of mending those fences under the new manager before the vote. "We're very sensitive to the fact that the businesses that are on the field and the neighborhoods that are around the airport have to work together. We understand the growth and we've determined where that growth has come from. Most of it is from the success of the airport — whether it be the flight schools, the FBOs success over the last couple of years and just general aviation across the country rebounding from the mid-2015 when there was a lull in the industry.

"With that, during all those interviews, we were always looking for who we thought would be able to step in and be a great communicator."

Hannafin said during his interview that managing Beverly Airport would be "professionally the next step for me" and continue his management at a bigger airport than in Illinois.

He said during his time as interim manager in Illinois, he helped commission a new solar array at the airport that reduced the airport's carbon footprint on the energy grid, which was also used as a revenue source, as well as broke ground on a $40 million runway project, and helped the airport transition to a new main air provider after the airport's previous carrier shut down amid the pilot shortage "in an efficient manner and in a way where that would gain public trust in the airport."

He also talked about organizing antique plane demonstrations and car shows as a way to connect the surrounding communities and get them more invested in the Quincy Airport.

Asked about dealing with the types of noise and pollution complaints that have escalated in recent years — especially from neighbors on the Danvers side of the airport — Hanafin admitted those were few in Quincy given that it was "in the middle of a cornfield with our closest neighbor two miles down the road."

"I am a quick learner and that would be something I would hit the ground running on," he said. "But that would be a new experience for me."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)