The Chandler Regional Airport is about to get a facelift. There are several upcoming projects that will improvement the 80acre airport and hopefully help attract larger companies to the area.
“We kind of got a whole bunch of different things going on. We’re trying to get funding for a fence to keep the deer out and the general public,” said airport board member Randy Carr. “We’re working on a separate thing to build like an airport terminal type thing for people to use.”
Carr added that they are also about to start construction in December or January on extending the ramp area on the north side, which will allow for more hangers to be built and hopefully encourage more people to have airplanes out there.
In the long-term, the airport board is looking to extend the 4,000-foot asphalt runway by about 1,000 feet, which would allow larger planes to takeoff and land. Carr said the current runway can accomodate up to a mid-size jet, though the airport is equipped with IFR, meaning planes can land using instruments only.
Tyler McDonald, vice president of LBR Inc. Airport Consultants who is working on the projects, said the preliminary engineering report and environmental coordination are being completed.
“A runway extension is needed to increase safety for these users and attract larger aircraft that might use the airport in the future,” he said, adding that design work has begun for the new terminal building.
The fence will cost roughly about $800,000 while they are looking at spending around $1 million for the terminal, Carr said. The high price tag is due to meeting all of the FAA standards. The runway extension will be a $9 million project, however the board is taking advantage of the upcoming turnpike expansion to help.
“They’re going to have a huge amount of extra dirt they’re going to have to get rid of, and we need to build up a huge amount of dirt. So they’re going to basically give us several hundred thousand dollars worth of free dirt,” Carr said.
McDonald added that the apron expansion is planning to start in late November with a completion estimated in spring of 2025. The remaining project timelines are based off of funding sources that are available. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and ODAA (Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics) provide most of the funding for airport projects and only require a small local match on the grants of 5 to 10 percent. Timelines will move forward as those funding options become more clear.
“These upgrades will continue to improve Chandler Regional Airport in many ways. Safety is always the top priority at an airport, and these planned projects will all increase that. Growth and expansion of the airport can be a major driver in the local economy as well,” the consultant said.
For a rural airport, Chandler gets a decent amount of traffic and Carr said they hope the improvements will help attract more. NAICO, Acord Trucking and Orr Construction operate planes out of the Chandler, along with some other smaller businesses and private pilots. Hiland Dairy flies in and out of the airport as well, though it doesn’t keep its corporate jet there.
But as Carr said, big companies have big airplanes, and currently they can’t land at the Chandler Regional Airport.
“If we want somebody to come in here and bring a big industry that’s going to create a lot of jobs, we’re going to have to have a way for them to get here. A lot of these high level executives don’t want to fly to Oklahoma City and then drive an hour to come out here,” he said.
City Manager Jason Orr said the City is looking forward to the improvements.
“The Chandler Regional Airport continues to be an enormous asset for our community and these facility enhancements sure have provided a boost to our efforts to attract new jobs to Chandler,” he said “Mr. Acord and the rest of the Board know what it takes to run an accomplished business, and that mindset of success has been instrumental in putting Chandler back on the map.”