Airports in NW Arkansas sprucing up

Region hopes upgrades to facilities will attract more planes, visitors, businesses

FAYETTEVILLE — Municipal airports in Northwest Arkansas are spending millions of dollars on upgrades officials said are needed to attract more airplanes and pilots to the region.

Airport facilities are more attractive when they are upgraded, said Johnny Roscoe, director of Fayetteville Executive Airport, which could attract more people to an airport and cause them to spend time and money in the region.

“Then the word gets around,” he said. “The aviation community talks.”

Airports are important economic tools for their surrounding communities, said Jerry Chism, director of the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics. Many businesses consider good airports as a factor in deciding where to be located.

“There is no case where an airport in a community is not a valuable asset,” he said.

Many airport upgrades are needed to help accommodate growth and demand, said David Krutsch, Rogers Municipal Airport manager. Growth in Northwest Arkansas will create growth in air transportation, he said.

Runway and taxiway maintenance are common upgrades for municipal airports across the nation, Chism said. Hangar development and “fuel farm” development are also common.

Wyman Morgan, Springdale’s director of finance and administration, said he hopes upgrades at Springdale Municipal Airport will help attract more corporations to the city.

A new access road will be finished near the end of March, Morgan said.

The road will be built south of the entrance to avoid traffic snarls during drop-off and pickup times at nearby Jones Elementary School. The new street will come off Powell Street, wind behind a couple of businesses and end in a one-way loop near the entrance to the airport terminal.

The total project cost is about $800,000, Morgan said. A Federal Aviation Administration grant will pay for 90 percent. Once the project is completed, officials will apply for a grant from the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics to cover the remaining 10 percent.

Enclosing an open-bay hangar was finished in February, Morgan said. The structure was open on all four sides to birds and weather before the construction.

“It was basically just a roof,” he said.

An Aeronautics Department grant provided $150,000 for the project, Morgan said. The remaining $173,000 came from the city’s capital improvements program. Officials also are adding more lights to the hangar’s interior, which should be finished soon.

Officials are planning to spend $1 million to renovate the terminal, Morgan said. It will be modernized, repainted and the restrooms will be updated to allow easier access for disabled people. An outdoor deck for the restaurant is also possible if there’s enough money.

Officials plan to work with a construction manager to find out how much can be done within their budget.

They plan to use that information to apply for another grant from the Aeronautics Department, Morgan said. They will also ask the City Council for matching funds, which will most likely come from the capital improvements program.

Construction won’t begin for at least 90 days, Morgan said. He said he hopes the project can be completed as soon as possible.

A runway extension, three to four years away, is the most distant project, Morgan said. The project would extend the runway by a little more than 400 feet on the southern end. The upgrade could mean more planes landing in Springdale, more fuel sales and more awareness of the city.

Officials are working with the FAA to try to gain funding for the extension, Morgan said.

The next project planned for Fayetteville Executive Airport is for apron rehabilitation, Roscoe said. The apron is a large piece of concrete near the terminal where airplanes are parked.

There is no timeline or budget yet for the project, but officials intend to apply for a grant from the FAA to cover 90 percent of the cost, Roscoe said. They also would like to widen and extend the taxiways.

Upgrades at Rogers Municipal Airport are to bring the facilities up to federal standards, Krutsch said. Officials are working to replace paved areas built between the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

Krutsch described the pavement as “old and dilapidated.” He also said the paved areas were built for smaller airplanes and need to be upgraded to suit larger ones.

Work on the taxiways was completed a few years ago, Krutsch said. The first of two phases for reconstructing the aprons is now underway.

The first phase will cost $3.6 million, 90 percent of which will be paid through an FAA grant, Krutsch said. It’s hoped a grant from the Aeronautics Department will cover the remaining 10 percent.

Krutsch said he hope the first phase will be completed by the end of 2015. There isn’t yet a timeline or budget for the second phase.

Officials in Rogers also are planning to renovate the airport’s runway, Krutsch said. It has some drainage and cracking problems, most of it age-related. They hope to get bids on the project in 2016.

The city also wants to evaluate the possibility of a runway extension, Krutsch said. Officials will be studying the feasibility and looking into requirements starting in late 2015 or early 2016.

Bentonville Municipal Airport is updating its master plan, said Ben Peters, airport manager. The plan should be completed late this fall and be used to assess upgrades.

The airport soon will finish a runway safety area project to upgrade the smooth, hard and rough surface used if an airplane leaves the pavement, Peters said. The area was too steep and needed to be flatter.

The project cost is about $600,000, Peters said. An FAA grant will pay for 90 percent of the project and a grant from the Aeronautics Department will cover the remaining 10 percent.

Officials also are looking to move some power poles obstructing the flight approach path, Peters said. There is 345 feet of runway beyond the threshold that can’t be used because of the poles. The runway will increase to 4,426 feet long when the poles are moved this year.

“Having a little bit more runway will help,” Peters said.

A longer runway could attract more planes to land at the airport, Peters said. Some companies require their planes to land on runways at least 5,000 feet long.

The project will cost an estimated $80,000, Peters said. Officials anticipate receiving federal and state grants to pay for the project.

A turf runway parallel to the current one also is on the wish list, Peters said. This type of runway could increase tourism, because it’s safer for landing historic aircraft.

A private investor plans to pay for the project, Peters said. He didn’t want to name the investor and said there isn’t yet a cost estimate. It’s hoped the runway will open in 2017.