Aug. 4—CEDAR RAPIDS — While the main draws at The Eastern Iowa Airport are for passengers and cargo, the Cedar Rapids facility also is becoming a lure for people not looking to catch a plane: students breaking into the aviation industry.
After partnering last fall with Kirkwood Community College to start the school's first maintenance technology program, the airport has continued to expand its educational campus by partnering with schools to try to address the shortage of aviation workers.
In May, Coe College in Cedar Rapids announced a new flight school and aviation management program to begin at the airport in fall 2025. The program will offer students the opportunity to become professional pilots or take classes for non-flying roles in the aviation industry.
This all coincides with the projected completion of the airport's fourth and final phase of its $120 million terminal modernization project by spring 2025.
The Gazette spoke with airport Director Marty Lenss about these developments. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: How did the aviation campus come about?
A: Conversations started around seven or eight years ago, and it was really just looking at Eastern Iowa and our overall region as having a pretty rich aviation origin story. I think about Rockwell Collins being on the forefront of avionic systems, you know, the Wright Brothers spent some time here, and generally, there was this sense that there is a pretty deep history of interest in aviation. So, how do we bring that together as really an economic development cluster?
We have a tremendous need for aviation workforce, both for pilots and mechanics. So having conversations with Kirkwood, looking at the demand needed, and looking at career opportunities for students, Kirkwood and the airport partnered on an ( U.S. Economic Development Authority) grant to modify a hangar to make it much more friendly for aviation education. (Kirkwood's) first two classes were full, and they continue to have waiting lists.
Having that rich aviation origin story helps those conversations with industry leaders to expand, or maybe relocate to Eastern Iowa.
Q: How does Coe College's program fit into this?
A: We see the maintenance program and the flight program really working together. Because sometimes students, you know, start out thinking they want to be a mechanic, and they start it, and they're like, gosh, I guess I'd rather be a pilot, or vice versa. These two programs now can kind of cross-pollinate each other, and whether you're recruiting a student to Kirkwood in maintenance or whether you're recruiting to Coe for flight, having additional options right next to each other helps that overall recruitment process for both. So we hope to expand other programs beyond aviation maintenance and flight training, so more news to come, but so far, things are really off to a great start.
Q: Are the programs with Kirkwood and Coe all being done at the airport? Or are some classes happening on their campuses?
A: All the general education courses within the associate's degree program at Kirkwood are happening on their main campus, but the bulk of all the hands-on training and experiential learning is being done in the hangar here at the airport. In the case of Coe's Flight School, they have expanded their business management aviation degree, and will be adding some additional sections specific to aviation. The students at Coe will stay on campus for that traditional college experience. Then, when they do their flight labs, they'll come out to the airport, and in a hanger immediately adjacent to Kirkwood's hangar is the Coe hanger for flight labs.
Coe students will progress through their four-year program in aviation maintenance while pursuing their professional pilot certificate.
Q: 2023 was a record year for The Eastern Iowa Airport regarding passenger traffic, and The Gazette recently reported the airport is on pace to surpass these numbers in 2024. What are some things you attribute to this growth?
A: The passenger side is definitely related to a strong regional economy, and most businesses in our area are largely back to 100 percent business travel. It also reflects individuals prioritizing leisure travel differently than they did pre-COVID. Travel has, historically, been something that might get cut from an individual's budget should there be inflation or economic pressures, and I believe those leisure trips seem to be a higher priority for folks now. So it's a combination of both of those things, and with that happening, airlines have the confidence to invest in more destinations for the airport.
Q: How does the airport plan to address the continued uptick in passenger numbers regarding parking?
A: The Airport Commission will split parking and roadway improvements into bite-sized projects that we can bid out separately. The commission does that so that if something changes in the industry, like a pandemic, and traffic drops off for whatever reason, we can stop construction at the end of any one of those phases and not spend more money.
But we do have a plan in place to accommodate the parking that comes with passenger growth. One of the phases we are working on now is extending the drive lane in front of the terminal facility for a longer linear, east-west run for the road, so we will have more curbside area to load and unload passengers safely. That project is underway, and coupled with that are additional parking stalls.
There are also other subsequent phases to include, such as the relocation of Wright Brothers Boulevard. (There are plans) for what we call a remote park-and-ride lot on some airport-owned property to our east. We would construct that because it would give us the ability to move vehicles out of the lot next to the terminal so that we can clear that area to eventually build a parking deck.
But you know, all of those phases will be based upon metrics set in place (that) are geared around passenger traffic and what's the volume in the parking lot. But the good news is we have space to accommodate.
Q: Is there a date for when some of these projects will be completed?
A: More information on the terminal roadway that's being extended and the additional parking stalls will be released later this year.
Q: The airport has been working on modernizing the terminal since 2014. Now that you're approaching the finish line of the project, how do staff feel about this coming to fruition?
A: I think the first thing that comes to mind is relief due to having it be a decade in the making and pausing it due to the pandemic. We are excited that it's almost time to unveil what we've been working on to the public.
Q: What amenities will the updated terminal feature?
A: The terminal will now have 13 gates, with plenty of seating and outlets for everybody to charge their personal devices that we all travel with these days. With the gates comes four jet bridges, and the facility will be equipped with improved restrooms and concessions. We just want a great experience for all of our guests, whether they're from this area or passing through for business. The terminal is really going to be a fantastic first and or last impression on visitors.
Q: I remember you speaking about a potential maintenance repair facility at the airport during June's State of Your Airport event. Can you speak more on that?
A: The maintenance repair facility, which we refer to as track seven, is a 40-acre shovel-ready site south of Wright Brothers Boulevard that we can open up with a taxiway project to develop a large hanger and, ideally, heavy aviation maintenance activity. Maintenance would be on both privately owned and regional aircraft, and the facility will be able to house six Boeing 737s. The goal would be to take the graduates (from the Kirkwood and Coe programs) and have them work right across the street at track seven.
Where there are maintenance repair facilities near the region, most of them are fully booked out until 2030. We recognize there is going to be increased demand in that space, and so we look to capitalize on that.
Q: When will the taxiway open?
A: That 40 acres will be shovel-ready airfield accessible by the end of next spring or early summer.
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