OKLAHOMA CITY – A dozen airports in southwestern Oklahoma will receive $1.4 million in stimulus funds, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport, as an example, is slated to receive $1,197,853 in emergency federal aid.
“This money will make all the difference in the world in our efforts to keep our doors open,” airport Director Barbara McNally said Wednesday. “It’s the difference between continuing to operate and not,” she said.
The severe economic downturn has resulted in a sharp decline in air traffic. “We’ve gone down to a tenth of the people who were flying at this time last year,” Ms. McNally said.
Enplanements at the airport numbered 2,338 in March, almost 43% fewer than the average number of outbound passengers that month (nearly 4,088) over the preceding seven years. Enplanements last month totaled 2,514, a 40% drop from the average number of inbound passengers in March (4,205) during the preceding seven years.
The stimulus grant can be used to pay utility bills and/ or to meet the payroll for the airport’s 18 employees, none of whom has been laid off during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, Ms. McNally said. “We run a barebones operation as it is,” she said, “and we have no idea when we’re going to get back to normal.”
Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport averaged 60 operations (takeoffs and landings) per day during calendar year 2018, records indicate. More than half of those operations involved military aircraft, local general aviation and transient general aviation each accounted for 17% of those operations, and air taxi service accounted for 9% of the traffic.
FREDERICK, ALTUS AIRPORTS GET $30K
Frederick Regional Airport is slated to receive $30,000 in emergency federal aid. “We’ll probably use ours for ongoing expenses, such as fuel,” City Manager Robert Johnston said Thursday. “We’re thankful to get the money,” he said, and unlike the conditions imposed for some grants, “We don’t have to spend it by any certain date.”
Frederick’s airport averaged 174 operations per day during the 12-month period that ended Nov. 28, 2018, records show. Ledgers indicate Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, is responsible for 94% of that activity; 4% results from transit general aviation; and 2% is attributed to local general aviation.
Altus/Quartz Mountain Regional Airport three miles north of the town’s central business district was allocated $30,000 of the federal economic stimulus aid. That money probably will be devoted to salaries and operational expenses, City Manager Gary Jones said Thursday.
Airport Manager Daniel Adams reported that a $63,000 construction project is anticipated this summer to build nine new T-hangars in which to house aircraft. The project will include tearing down an aged, existing set of hangars and pouring new concrete flooring for the new hangars, he said. That job will be financed entirely with federal funds, Jones said.
The Altus/Quartz Mountain airport has one concrete runway, which is 5,500 feet long and 75 feet wide, records show. In 2018 the airport logged about 7,000 takeoffs and landings, or a little over 19 per day. However, the runway was shut down for three months that year for repairs that included sealing cracks and replacing the runway lights, Adams said. Operations have since climbed back up into the two dozen per day range, he said Wednesday.
Approximately 52% of the Altus airport’s operations are attributed to local general aviation, and 48% is from transient general aviation, records indicate.
Other airports in southwest Oklahoma that are scheduled to receive federal stimulus aid include: Halliburton Field at Duncan, $69,000; Chickasha Municipal Airport, $30,000; Carnegie Municipal, Hobart Regional and Hollis Municipal airports, $20,000 apiece; Scott Field at Mangum, Walters Municipal, Grandfield Municipal, and Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark at Burns Flat, $1,000 each.
With air travel down 90%, more than 3,000 U.S. airports will soon receive the emergency federal money, said Dan Elwell, FAA deputy administrator. “This is a financial bridge to keep these airports viable,” he said. The FAA has earmarked grants for 100 airports throughout Oklahoma.
CHATTANOOGA PLANS AIRPORT UPGRADES
Chattanooga’s Sky Harbor Airport near the southwestern Comanche County town, which envisions a rehab project, was not one of the emergency grant recipients, FAA records indicate. Sealed bids are scheduled to be opened May 7 on a project to replace lighting at the facility, to replace deteriorated asphalt in the 3,400-foot-long runway and to seal/ repair cracks.
Chattanooga’s airport averages approximately 67 operations (takeoffs and landings) daily, about 3,500 annually, Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission records reflect.
Typically, federal aviation grant money comes with strict rules about how it can be used, but not this time. “Those restrictions are lifted so that airports can use this money for purposes they would not normally use federal airport funds for,” Elwell said. The FAA says airports can even use the funds to pay down debt.
In total, $10 billion allotted through the CARES Act will let airports large and small keep their doors open and employees and vendors paid. The CARES Act includes $56 million for the Essential Air Service Program to maintain existing air service to rural communities.
The grants include hundreds of millions of dollars for smaller, regional airports across all 50 states.