20 Arkansas airports to receive $14 million in federal grants

Arkansas airports were awarded $14.83 million in federal grant money on Friday (Aug. 9), according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) in Highfill will receive $3.88 million to support a project to build a new control tower.

The money comes from the newest round of 2024 Airport Improvement Program grants awarded by the agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The grants pay for various projects to improve runways, airfields and airport facilities. On Friday, the FAA awarded $636.05 million to airports in 46 states and the American Samoa.

Following are the 19 other airports to receive the money.
• Carroll County in Berryville: $418,435 to expand apron.
• Z M Jack Stell Field in Crossett: $1.05 million to construct taxiway.
• J Lynn Helms Sevier County in De Queen: $388,656 to construct a taxi lane.
• Billy Free Municipal in Dumas: $155,655 to reseal apron and taxiway pavement.
• Drake Field in Fayetteville: $240,210 to extend and expand taxiway.
• Memorial Field in Hot Springs: $558,485 to rehabilitate runway and its lighting and markings.
• Jonesboro Municipal in Jonesboro: $141,300 to extend and expand runway.
• Ralph C Weiser Field in Magnolia: $218,044 to reconstruct taxiway lighting.
• Manila Municipal in Manila: $299,444 to reconstruct taxiway lighting and rehabilitate runway lighting.
• Monticello Municipal/Ellis Field in Monticello: $316,566 to reseal apron and taxiway pavement
• Morrilton Municipal in Morrilton: $318,277 to construct an airport lighting vault, install taxiway lighting, and reconstruct runway and taxiway lighting.
• Bearce in Mount Ida: $924,474 to rehabilitate runway and reseal taxiway pavement.
• Baxter County in Mountain Home: $100,043 to reconstruct runway visual guidance system.
• Osceola Municipal in Osceola: $525,079 to construct terminal access road.
• Pine Bluff Regional/Grider Field in Pine Bluff: $2.08 million to rehabilitate runway.
• Russellville Regional in Russellville: $165,007 to reconstruct apron.
• Sheridan-Grant County Regional in Sheridan: $246,082 to reseal and resurface runway pavement.
• Springdale Municipal in Springdale: $606,559 to reseal and resurface runway pavement.
• Texarkana Regional-Webb Field in Texarkana: $2.18 million to construct apron.

20 Arkansas airports to receive $14 million in federal grants

FAA to give almost $10 million to Arkansas airports

by Jeff Della Rosa (JDellaRosa@nwabj.com)

Nearly 20 Arkansas airports will receive $9.99 million from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as part of recently announced grants from the Airport Improvement Program.

The agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Tuesday (June 7) awarding $518 million in the second round of the 2022 Airport Improvement Program. The awards include 416 grants to U.S. airports for projects such as construction of new and improved airport facilities, repairs to runways and taxiways, maintenance of airfield features like lighting or signs and purchasing equipment needed to operate and maintain airports.

The first round of funding was announced this past December.

https://talkbusiness.net/2022/06/faa-to-give-almost-10-million-to-arkansas-airports/

Arkansas airports to receive $23 million in first round of funding from new infrastructure law

by Jeff Della Rosa (JDellaRosa@nwabj.com)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday (Dec. 16) it will award $2.89 billion in fiscal 2022 to 3,075 U.S. airports as a result of the new infrastructure law. In Arkansas, $23.35 million will go to 65 commercial, county and municipal airports.

The law provides $15 billion over five years for airport-related projects under the existing Airport Improvement Grant and Passenger Facility Charge programs. The money can be invested in runways, taxiways, safety and sustainability, terminal, airport-transit connections and roadway projects.

In Arkansas, the largest amounts awarded in the first round of airport funding from the law will go to the three largest commercial airports in the state:

• Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, $4.89 million

• Northwest Arkansas National Airport in Highfill, $4.46 million

• Fort Smith Regional Airport, $1.27 million.

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/12/arkansas-airports-to-receive-23-million-in-first-round-of-funding-from-new-infrastructure-law/

AUDIO: Governor Hutchinson’s Weekly Address | Arkansas Aviation Then and Now

LITTLE ROCK – Airports and air travel are essential to Arkansas’s growth and economic development, and the history of aeronautics in Arkansas is colorful. Today I’d like to talk about this industry that has contributed so much to the high quality of life in the Natural State.

Charles McDermott, a transplant from Louisiana, was one of Arkansas’s first aviators. The 1872 patent for his airplane was titled “Improvement in Apparatus for Navigating the Air.” The machine was built with flaps and the pilot operated it with his feet. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Mr. McDermott exhibited his invention at the Arkansas booth in 1876 at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. History doesn’t record whether any of his flying machines actually flew.

In May 1910, Fort Smith was the site of Arkansas’s first well-documented flight when James C. “Bud” Mars hit sixty-miles-per-hour in a Curtiss Bi-Plane.

Louise Thaden, who was from Bentonville, won the Women’s Air Derby in 1929. In 1936, she and her co-pilot beat all the men pilots in the Bendix Trophy race from New York to Los Angeles. The first African American known to receive a pilot’s license was Pickens W. Black, a Jackson County planter from Blackville. His private pilot license was issued in November 1933 and his last in 1958.

Those pioneers laid the foundation for an industry that has grown into 99 publicly owned general aviation public-use airports; and 3,400 general-aviation aircraft. We have nearly 6,000 pilots, four FAA-approved pilot schools, nearly 2,000 student pilots; and more than 800 flight instructors.

General aviation airports contribute $467 million to the state’s economy every year with 5,100 jobs and a payroll of nearly $167 million. That doesn’t include the general aviation jobs at commercial-service airports across the state.

The “Economic Impact of Arkansas Airports” report shows that all sectors of the industry combined provide more than 42,000 jobs; generate $1.5 billion in payroll; and produce $3.5 billion in economic activity.

The Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas National Airport, known as XNA, are among the one-hundred largest airports in the nation. Between them, the two fly nearly two-million passengers a year.

A robust air-travel system is high on the list for site selectors who are considering Arkansas. To maintain our top-flight system,  the Division of Aeronautics oversees the industry with a staff of five and a commission with seven members that the governor appoints. To underscore the importance of the industry, in 2019, I moved the division into the Arkansas Department of Commerce as part of my government transformation initiative.

Like every other business, COVID turned the airline industry on its head. In 2020, air travel was down 50% nationally. Travel spending decreased from nearly a trillion dollars in 2019 to $679 billion last year. That affects so many other areas, such as business travel, conventions, and tourism.

As our air-travel industry emerges from the pandemic, we can look to the ingenuity and tenacity of our founding flyers such as Charles McDermott, Pickens Black, Louise Thaden, and Bud Mars, and soon Arkansas aviation will be flying higher than ever.

Arkansas Airports Receive More than $4 million in Federal Stimulus Money

by Jeff Della Rosa (JDellaRosa@nwabj.com)

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded more than $4.5 million in federal stimulus money to Arkansas airports, including $4.38 million to Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) in Highfill. U.S. Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, and Steve Womack, R-Rogers, announced Friday (Feb. 26) the grants will help to offset costs and maintain jobs as a result of COVID-19 and provide for increased sanitization to combat the spread of pathogens at airports.

The DOT, through the Federal Aviation Administration, will give the money appropriated through the Coronavirus Relief and Response Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act, which Congress approved in December. All federal legislators from Arkansas supported the act.

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/02/arkansas-airports-receive-more-than-4-million-in-federal-stimulus-money/

Grant recipients and amounts include:

Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA), $4,382,255

Rogers Executive Airport – Carter Field, $91,162

De Witt Municipal Airport/Whitcomb Field in Arkansas County, $13,000

Thompson-Robbins Airport in Phillips County, $9,000

Delta Regional Airport in St. Francis County, $13,000

Walnut Ridge Regional Airport in Lawrence County, $13,000