Airport at Conway receives new grant

The Arkansas Aeronautics Commission last week approved a 10% Airport Improvement Program Grant request of $177,818 for the Conway Municipal Airport at Cantrell Field.

The funding will be used to build a taxiway and ramp in preparation for construction of 12 new T hangars.

Last year, the airport received a $1.4 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration that kicked off a multimillion-dollar, five-year capital improvement plan.

The airport will add a hangar apron, taxi lane and the 12 airplane hangars to the 46 buildings currently on the south end of the airfield.

There is a list of 31 aircraft owners waiting for parking spaces at the airport, according to a report from the airport.

The Conway Municipal Airport at Cantrell Field was built in 2014 on a 431-acre site 10 miles southwest of Conway’s center. The original Cantrell Field airport, which was near downtown, closed Jan. 31, 2015.

The new airport operates a full Phillips 66 fuel service and a 24-hour self-serve option, as well as ground service and a 6,300-squarefoot main complex with a flight-training classroom, a conference room, and a pilot’s lounge including bathrooms, shower, sleeping space, vending machines, weather computers and free Wi-Fi.

The airport’s annual operating budget of about $1.1 million is fully self-sustained. Each hangar rents for $215 per month. The airport’s larger hangars, for housing several corporate jets, are on the north end of the airfield and rent for $700 per month.