FRYEBURG – Fryeburg Aviation owner Neal Minschwaner, the fixed-base operator at Eastern Slopes Regional Airport, is ceasing business operations Dec. 31.

Minschwaner sent out letters recently to his customers informing them of the decision to close the business. He could not be reached for comment Friday

Joe Solari, chairman of the Eastern Slopes Airport Authority’s Board of Directors, said the authority is negotiating with another person to serve as fixed-base operator. In the meantime, the authority has hired someone to provide snowplowing and sell fuel to service the 30-some airplanes based at the airport, located off Route 302 three miles from the center of Fryeburg.

“The airport will continue to operate. We’ve been without a fixed-base operator before,” Solari said. The authority won’t, however, be able to provide aircraft maintenance during the transition, he said.

Fryeburg Aviation leased a 3,500-square-foot airport hangar at the airport, where Minschwaner provided aircraft repair and maintenance services. In 1990, he became the airport’s fixed base operator, where he has run day-to-day operations at the airport under the authority’s direction, Solari said.

“He had decided he’s going to go into other endeavors,” he said.

The airport is owned by the town of Fryeburg, which leases it to the Airport Authority. Member towns in the authority are Fryeburg, Brownfield, Denmark, Porter, Hiram, Stow, Bridgton, Sweden and Lovell in Maine, and the New Hampshire towns of Conway, Bartlett, Jackson, Chatham, Eaton, Madison and Albany.

“We have planes coming in and out every day,” including regular charter flights bringing tourists to the North Conway area and parents to the area’s large number of summer camps.

The airport was established in the early 1960s.

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