Spirits were sky high Wednesday at the Council Bluffs Municipal Airport about its expansion plans.
"This project is going to go," said U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-District.
King came to the airport to announce that $2 million in federal money has been granted to help build a new runway and $3.5 million for the related East Council Bluffs Beltway.
"This will provide more momentum to complete the project," King said. "I'm optimistic for the future of economic growth in eastern Council Bluffs. Good access to airports is essential to industries."
Dan Smith, the airport's executive director, said, "We're setting up the infrastructure for business opportunities to take place."
The new runway will be 5,500 feet long with precision instrument approach capability, Smith said. Currently, the airport has only a visual approach runway.
The new, longer runway will allow larger corporate jets that weigh up to 60,000 pounds to land there, making the area more attractive for companies wanting to relocate or expand, Smith said.
The runway's completion should be in 2007, he said.
On average, 106 airplanes take off and land at the airport daily, Smith said, and 91 airplanes are based there with a list of potential clients waiting for new hangar space that's also in the expansion plans.
The north-south beltway being built just to the east of the airport will improve access there and provide alternate routing for traffic during emergency closures of Interstate 80.
It will also accommodate the expected economic growth from the larger airport.
The road will eventually link U.S. Highway 6 all the way down to Interstate 29 near the MidAmerican Energy Plant.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa. (WOWT) - A strong storm that swept through downtown Kansas City last week destroyed 11 out of 13 of ATD Flight System’s planes. Now, Council Bluffs Municipal Airport and Lisa Lamantia with Revv Aviation is lending a helping hand. “We’ve gathered different planes from different locations and we brought them here to Council Bluffs,” Lamantia said. “ATD will be flying up here to take these planes to Kansas City.” Lamantia told 6 News replacing air equipment can be costly. A single-engine aircraft can run between $120,000 to $250,000.
“We’re a competitor flight school and we can’t imagine what it’s like to lose all your equipment in one day,” Lamantia said. The airport has all the aircraft ready to travel to Kansas City. Jerome Howard is a chief instructor for Revv Aviation. He hopes lending the planes will help ATD continue its mission. “Having eleven of your aircraft basically get destroyed is going to put a damper on your flight training and student’s progress,” Howard said. Lamantia also hopes it will give ATD enough time to replace all the damaged aircraft and get back on its feet. “At least it’s some way to keep people near their check-ride, going to get their license, or get a rating to get their goal done,” Lamantia said. Replacing 11 of the damaged small planes in Kansas City could take two weeks or more.
