A planned apron expansion at Crawfordsville Regional Airport will give pilots more room to park aircraft.
The airport is seeking state and federal funding to increase the size of the parking area by about 30,000 square-feet to accommodate more large aircraft and student pilots.
“I would say at least weekly we see congestion problems at the airport as far as parking,” airport manager Lori Curless said in an interview about the facility’s 2020 plans.
Much of the $1.2 million expansion would be funded by a grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration. The airport would be required to contribute $60,000 of the total cost.
The city will learn in the fall whether the airport is selected for the grant. Construction on the apron would be completed in two phases.
Nearly 5,000 planes used the airport in 2016, according to the latest FAA data. The numbers were calculated before the facility was branded a regional airport and the city began promoting it as a destination for corporate aircraft.
More recently, the runways have seen more traffic from Indianapolis-based flight school Lift Academy, which trains an average of 25-30 students in Crawfordsville every week and purchases fuel from the airport.
Airplane rentals have also increased over the past year. Rented planes logged 216 hours of flight time in 2019, compared to 99 hours in 2018, according to airport data.
Curless said the rentals boost interest and community awareness of the airport and generates activity for the on-site maintenance facility and fuel farm.
“It becomes a self-sustaining business feeding other self-sustaining businesses at the airport,” she added.
Budget-wise, the city-owned airport has brought in more revenue, but isn’t yet financially self-sufficient.
Total revenues were $243,000 in 2019, according to the Crawfordsville Clerk/Treasurer’s Office. That’s a slight increase from the more than $218,000 brought in during the previous year, the city’s 2018 annual financial report shows.
As part of a list of deferred maintenance projects, the airport completed the final phase of taxiway improvements using a local contractor.
This year, roof repairs and LED lighting upgrades have been scheduled for the hangars, which have sustained storm damage over the years.
Fuel farm equipment will also be upgraded and a larger transport vehicle will be purchased to move bigger planes.
