During the recent Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission meeting, Ada Municipal Airport was awarded a $92,000 Capital Improvement Program grant to reconstruct its taxilane pavement.
“We find ourselves in a unique and exciting time in Ada,” Ada City Manager Cody Holcomb told the commissioners. “We’re literally busting at the seams. Our hangars are full, and at the end of this year we will have six jets based at the airport.”
Holcomb said the airport is currently dealing with various pavement issues, most important of which is trying to significantly reduce the presence of loose rocks and gravel, called foreign object debris or FOD for short, on the taxilane area. FOD is feared throughout the aviation industry because of the damage flying debris can cause to people and aircraft if sucked into propellers or jet engines.
Aeronautics Commission officials noted the total cost of reconstructing the taxilane pavement is $102,000, with the city of Ada contributing $10,000 in matching funds.
“The Commission is very pleased to provide this CIP grant to Ada,” said Victor Bird, director of the Aeronautics Commission. “Ada has been extremely good to work with and it is committed to providing Oklahomans and businesses located around that part of the state with a top-notch, safe airport. We are looking forward to working with them even further on other airport projects tentatively scheduled to begin later this year or in 2014.”
Ada Municipal Airport, which sports a 6,200-foot runway that enables it to handle most business jet traffic, is home to 60 based aircraft, according to city officials. It also sees approximately 12,000 take offs and landings each year. Some of the community’s largest employers, including the Chickasaw Nation and Prepaid Legal, use the airport to conduct business and transport their employees to various meetings across the state and nation.
Since 2002, the Aeronautics Commission has awarded more than $300,000 in state grants and channeled $7.8 million in federal grant funds to Ada Municipal Airport for various infrastructure projects such as runway and taxiway construction or rehabilitation, and the purchase and installation of navigational aids.
The Aeronautics Commission’s CIP determines federal and state funding for airport development projects that is consistent with the goal of the Oklahoma Airport System Plan (OASP). Airports included in the OASP are functionally classified as regional business, district or community.
Regional business airports, such as Ada Municipal Airport, are the most active airports and are located at the economic centers in the state. The Commission continues to direct the majority of federal and state funds to those airports and projects that make a significant improvement to the system.
