Fort Smith airport moves on extensive construction plan

story by Aric Mitchell
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In spite of a 15-minute tornado warning delay, the Fort Smith Regional Airport Commission managed to move forward on two engineering contracts with Morrison Shipley Engineers at the monthly meeting Tuesday night.

The first contract is expected to be a 3-year construction plan on Taxiway A West, and is estimated to cost $8 million by the final tally. The project will move in three phases and the first is expected to be completed in 2011, costing $1.5 million.

Phase II will break ground in 2012 and total close to $2 million, while Phase III is projected to bring the project to a close in 2013 at a price tag of around $4 million. The $8 million expenditure is contingent on FAA grant funding under the Airport Improvement Program (AIP).

The second contract, for the West Corporate Taxi Lane Design, builds on a reconstruction that was begun in 2010 and totaled $557,515, of which the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics (DOA) covered nearly $500,000. While there are no projections on how much the remainder of this project will cost, Airport Director John Parker said the airport would seek another 80-20-funded grant from DOA similar to the one secured in 2010.

Construction bids on the project will be solicited at the June Commission meeting. An area of concern Parker addressed included the placement of historic Hangar 5 within the building restriction line. By FAA rule, no buildings can be located within the restriction line, where Hangar 5 currently resides. Rather than tear the hangar down, however, Parker noted that efforts would be made to relocate it to another portion of the premises.

In other news, the Fort Smith Delta office was voted the 2010 Station of the Year for Pinnacle Airlines at the national level. As a result, the office was able to host a drill involving all levels of emergency management that included both the Memphis and Delta Headquarters.

“The headhunters were here watching, and this group just did a great job with the drill. We are so proud of our office downstairs,” Parker told Commissioners.

March financials were also reported, and with 25% of the year complete, operating revenues for the airport are at 21.5% of the budgeted amount against 22.3% at the same level in 2010. Operating expenses showed 22.4% of the budgeted amount and for the same period last year they were at 22.7%. Parker said the only real eyesore on the expenses side were chemicals, which account for $25,379 with only $27,500 budgeted for the year. The overage is due to keeping the airport operational during January and February’s winter storms.

The next meeting of the Fort Smith Regional Airport Commission will be held May 24 at 5:30 p.m.