U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation Operation, Safety, and Security and a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, today announced that Joplin Regional Airport will be awarded a $7.5 million grant through the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Airport Improvement Program (AIP).
The grant will be used to reconstruct a taxiway.
“Reconstructing the taxiway will allow Joplin Regional Airport to keep up with increasing travel demand, which is great for local families and businesses,” said Blunt. “I’ve been proud to advocate for the Airport Improvement Program, which is especially important for our regional airports. I’ll continue supporting efforts to enhance passenger safety and strengthen our state’s air transportation network.”
“With the steady growth and success of our commercial service with American Airlines we have seen an impact on our airfield infrastructure,” said Joplin Regional Airport Manager Steve Stockam. “The larger commercial aircraft are great news for our customers but have taken a toll on the 25-year-old taxiway that supports our main runway. With the support of Senator Blunt, this Supplemental Funding Grant has provided a window of opportunity to address this deteriorating taxiway immediately. Reconstructing Taxiway D now will ensure we will have the infrastructure in place to support the continued growth of our commercial service as we look to add frequency and new service routes.”
The AIP program provides grant funding for infrastructure improvements at public-use airports.
For smaller airports, the grant covers a range of 90-95 percent of eligible costs.
The Blunt-backed Bipartisan Budget Act, which was signed into law in February, increased overall resources for infrastructure investments, including the AIP program.
3 comments:
How about the potholes in our streets or even better yet how about those using the airport pay for this through a tax on tickets. A better answer is why spend any money on this sinkhole when we have Springfield, Fayetteville and Tulsa so close? This is a sad case of a politician buying his election or that of other republican candidates in the area. Interesting to see all the needs this area has and millions have been dumped into airports for the wealthy plane owners, another example would be Carthage, Pittsburg, Neosho and all the other smaller airports that should be supported by the owners of aircraft instead of taxpayers having trouble buying a decent car.
1:40...
Just because you don't travel doesn't mean that the rest of us can't enjoy being able to fly out of our own town. Also, in MANY cases it's cheaper to fly out of Joplin that either Springfield or Bentonville!! This is a great investment and leads to the opportunity of more flights and different locations as well.
Nobody has a problem with you staying home, but don't tread on my ability to travel when I have the opportunity.
540...flyers pay taxes for such work ...your gas tax pays for your potholes,unfortunately folks dont want to pay more gas tax to fix roads /bridges...things wear out but the public seems to fixate on too many mdot employees or not going to raise my taxes..sadly roads will be getting worse...
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