Gear Plant Heliport

Operational obsolescence and economic factors. The heliport was a private facility for General Electric. Its closure aligns with a broader corporate trend away from using helicopters for routine executive transport due to high operational costs. The need to resurface the roof of the building on which it was located likely provided a definitive opportunity to decommission the facility permanently.

The heliport is permanently closed and physically removed. The site of the former helipad is the roof of a building within the still-active General Electric Aviation manufacturing campus in Lynn. The roof has been resurfaced, and no trace of the helipad remains. The GE plant itself continues to be a major facility for the design and production of aircraft engines.

The heliport's significance is tied directly to the historic General Electric River Works plant it served. This plant is a cornerstone of American aviation, having produced the first American-built jet engine in 1942. The heliport, likely designated with the FAA identifier MA51, was used for decades for private corporate purposes. Operations primarily involved transporting GE executives, high-priority personnel, and occasionally urgent, small-scale parts to and from other corporate sites or regional airports like Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), bypassing ground traffic. It represents an era when large industrial corporations maintained private heliports to maximize executive efficiency.

None. There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the heliport. The corporate transportation needs that justified its existence have changed, and the physical infrastructure has been intentionally removed. Re-establishing the facility would require significant investment for recertification and construction, for which there is no apparent business case.