The Ponca City Regional Airport hosted a ribbon-cutting\nceremony on Friday, July 9, in honor of the airport\u2019s newly reconstructed\n7,200-foot runway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project, which began in 2020, was one of the largest\nsingle-phase undertakings at a general aviation airport in Oklahoma. The\nproject reconstructed a majority of the runway, replaced the runway lights and\nguidance signs and significantly enhanced the drainage of the area. The Federal\nAviation Administration (FAA) funding for the $8.1M project was directed\nthrough the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission\u2019s (OAC) 5-year Airport Construction\nProgram and consisted of a combination of FAA Supplemental Appropriations,\nAirport Improvement Program (AIP) funding and Coronavirus Aid Relief and\nEconomic Security (CARES) Act local matching funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe new runway at Ponca City Regional Airport will\nattract new businesses to Oklahoma help our economy continue to grow,\u201d said\nGov. Kevin Stitt. \u201cA strong infrastructure is key to becoming a Top Ten state\nand Oklahomans should take pride in these improvements to our state airport\nsystem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt 7,200 feet long, this runway is the ninth-longest\ncivilian runway in the state,\u201d U.S. Sen. Inhofe said. \u201cIt can accommodate just\nabout any aircraft in the business jet fleet, opening the airport and the\nsurrounding region to future economic development opportunities. I would also\nlike to commend the City of Ponca City for taking on such a tremendous project\nin the height of the COVID pandemic as it demonstrates their vision and\nleadership in the aviation community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation Tim Gatz and local\nofficials led the ceremonial ribbon cutting signifying the optimistic future of\nboth the Ponca City Regional Airport and the surrounding communities. Gatz has\nbeen active in the support of the OAC\u2019s aggressive efforts to improve pavement\nquality throughout the 108 public-use airports located within the state system\nof airports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe construction completed at this airport will ensure\nthe viability of the runway for the next 40-plus years and provide for a great\naviation infrastructure asset for the north-central Oklahoma area,\u201d Sec. Gatz\nsaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since 2000, this airport has received over $26M in\nfunding to support infrastructure upgrades and support the functionality and\nimprovement of the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to the ribbon-cutting, attendees enjoyed the\nsinging of the National Anthem by Emma Valgora and the posting of the colors by\nScout Troop #524 with the First Lutheran Church. The crowd heard from\nadditional dignitaries including State Representative Ken Luttrell, Mayor of\nPonca City Homer Nicholson and State Director of Aeronautics Grayson Ardies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWorking with Mayor Nicholson and the City Manager Craig\nStephenson on this project has been excellent,\u201d said Director Ardies. \u201cThe\nairport currently hosts more than 50 based aircraft including three business\njets. Many local businesses utilize the\nairport including Phillips 66, Community Health Systems, Albertsons, Walmart\nand Wyatt Construction. With aviation and aerospace as the state\u2019s\nsecond-largest economic engine, this community is now positioned for further\naero commerce and tourism.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ponca City Regional Airport hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, July 9, in honor of the airport\u2019s newly reconstructed 7,200-foot runway. The project, which began in 2020, was one of the largest single-phase undertakings at a general aviation airport in Oklahoma. The project reconstructed a majority of the runway, replaced the runway lights and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oklahoma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ponca-City-Runway-2021-07-.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18829,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18827\/revisions\/18829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}