Standing by during a delivery of plane fuel at Wiscasset Municipal Airport on May 8, Frank Costa said he considers the airport a jewel of Wiscasset. It shines and he wants it to keep shining, he said.

Costa, 57, of Wiscasset is in the right position to help make that happen. He is the new manager of the town-owned airport.

“Everybody, the private pilots, want to visit it, and they don’t want it to be a Newark or a JFK.” They just expect to be treated properly, and they are, Costa said Friday.

He has worked at the airport on Chewonki Neck Road for the past year as a fixed-base operations technician. That experience will help him in his new job, he said.

So will his eight years at JFK International Airport for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, where he worked his way from up from a warehouse job to lead agent.

Costa, a former mounted police officer in Texas, is not a pilot nor has he ever been; he just likes working in the airport environment, he said. “And the environment at Wiscasset (airport) is awesome.” The pilots are very easy to get along with, he said.

Costa has no plans to undertake a new direction for the airport. “Under the present economic times we’re experiencing, if we can maintain the present level of service, we should be OK,” Costa said. “We try to provide a nice, clean, inviting facility.” He gave credit to his predecessor, Ervin Deck, for holding the facility that standard.

“He set an example, and if I can continue that, I think definitely this will carry us through,” Costa said.

Deck announced last fall that he planned to resign. He left the position earlier this year. Reached May 7, Deck described Costa as an excellent choice for the next manager. “He is conscientious, hard-working, with an outgoing personality and the right temperament for this type of work.

“He would have been my own personal choice to replace me. I hope he gets the same support and dedication from the town that I was given,” Deck said.

Although Costa isn’t seeking change at the airport, he is looking to underscore what an inviting place it is and the fact it is a gateway to the community. His new business card carries a slogan he came up with: “Discovering Wiscasset ... one flight at a time,” it reads.

“Every time a new pilot comes here they’re being introduced to our community,” Costa said. “The town is deserving of having people visit and having the income from that.”