Nashua airport, DWC share key relationship

One institution that has long been closely linked to Daniel Webster College is the adjacent Nashua Municipal Airport, where the school’s aviation program is based.

The school has more than three dozen airplanes based at Boire Field for students getting various levels of pilot licenses, including single-engine Cessnas and a number of twin-engine plans and planes with retractable landing gear.

The constant practice by DWC students has given the relatively small airport a reputation of being the second-busiest airport in New England, as measured by landings and takeoffs.

Airport Manager Royce Rankin, who got his bachelor’s degree in organization management from Daniel Webster College, said he had high hopes for the new arrangement.

He noted that DWC leases two parcels of land south of the airport’s control tower, where it has long wanted to build an airplane hangar and possibly a repair facility.

“If this gives them an infusion of money . . . I think it’s a win-win situation,” he said.

– DAVID BROOKS