Beta Technologies secures 75-year aircraft facility lease at Burlington International Airport

In July the Burlington City Council in Vermont gave unanimous approval of a 75-year lease between the Burlington International Airport (BTV) and Beta Technologies (South Burlington, Vt., U.S.) to help ensure that the electric aviation company remains an important part of the region’s economy for the long term (see “Composite aerostructures in the emerging urban air mobility market”). The agreement will enable Beta to construct and operate a 355,000-square-foot building on airport property to design, produce and assemble electric aircraft.

“Beta’s vision of electric aviation fully aligns with Burlington’s vision of a fully-electrified, net-zero city that offers vast opportunities to all who want to make this place their home,” Mayor Miro Weinberger says. “I want to thank Beta for working collaboratively to see this process through, the Council for their support and Acting Aviation Director Nic Longo and his team for getting us to this critical milestone.”

Under the lease, the rent paid by Beta will be fair market rent, consistent with the rent paid by other tenants of BTV. Rent will increase each year by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index, with a minimum increase of 2% and a maximum increase of 6% each year. Beta has agreed to construct the infrastructure improvements to the airport property that are necessary to make the airport’s property ready for the construction of Beta’s facility.

Since Beta is incurring expenses to build infrastructure, it will earn a rent credit equal to the cost of constructing the necessary infrastructure, which will be applied against the payment of rent over time.

Beta has been a tenant at BTV since 2019, in a City Council-approved lease.  During that period, the company has made significant investments to fully renovate its North Hangar facility to house its engineering, administrative and prototype manufacturing facilities.

Beta currently employs more than 300 people at its BTV facility and manages a robust internship program, collaborating with local educational institutions, to provide students with work-study opportunities. The company projects hiring hundreds of additional employees and interns, as it brings the planned production facility at BTV online in 2023; it is currently seeking to fill another 50 full-time positions.