The Logansport/Cass County Airport is receiving $823,500 from the Federal Aviation Administration for runway lighting.
The grant will go to replacing the current 120 lights along runway 927 — the runaway lengthened last year — with LED lights.
The lights will be brighter, more efficient and easier to operate and maintain, said Airport Manager Jill Van Horn.
“These changes now may help with the future demands,” she said. “And with each change, we become more capable of handling any aviation that come to our facility.”
That means corporate jets to small local aircraft to military training. The military does pick-ups at the airport, she said.
The airport extended the runway/taxiway last year for business flight requirements.
“That was a big reason, so we could accommodate the larger corporate jets,” Van Horn said.
Tyson is one company that has corporate jets coming into airport regularly.
Because of the airport’s quality and ability to provide jet fuel, businesses from Monticello to Peru use it, she said.
Locally, the grant requires a 5 percent match funding.
The FAA announced the grant award Wednesday as part of the fourth disbursement of the $3.18 billion Airport Improvement Program grants, $12.26 million of which goes to 15 Indiana airports.
“This significant investment in airport improvements in Indiana will fund construction and rehabilitation projects that will help maintain high levels of safety in U.S. aviation,” U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said.
According to the FAA’s most recent economic analysis, U.S. civil aviation accounts for $1.6 trillion in total economic activity and supports nearly 11 million jobs.
Logansport Mayor Dave Kitchell said the grant is part of the city and county working together over the last 15 years to move the airport and the Cass County-Logansport Industrial Park into the future.
“We’re heading in the right direction, and this is just another step on the way,” said Kitchell.
“A lot of people look at us when they look at airport cooperation because we’ve done it the right way,” he said.
It’s a great asset to the county and city and one of the few airports next to an industrial park, which is inside the city limits and brings in property taxes and other money, he said.
More people are stabling corporate jets at the airport because the airport is inexpensive and because of its proximity to Indianapolis, Lafayette and the Chicago area.
Kitchell believes the airport is second only to the Purdue University Airport in a 50-mile radius, and as Indianapolis develops further north, more will happen in Logansport and Cass County, especially on U.S. 31 and the Hoosier Heartland Highway.
“We have to do things to make it more attractive,” Kitchell said.
Kitchell also said that, because Cass County Commissioner President Jim Sailors is also dedicated to the city and county working together, the two are able to combine resources. That cooperation also looks good to grant providers, he said.
Reach James D. Wolf Jr. at [email protected] or 574-732-5117
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