Lawton airport hangar gets funding

A hangar construction project at Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport has been formally added to Oklahoma’s airport construction program.

Members of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission made the decision Tuesday after receiving a request from Lawton airport’s governing board and its director for a grant covering 40 percent of the estimated $1.6 million cost to build a new 100-foot by 120-foot hangar. Approval means the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace & Aeronautics would convey a $640,000 grant to Lawton, leaving the airport to match $960,000 in local funding to finance the entire construction project. The action was one of five projects outlined Tuesday for addition to the five-year airport construction program.

Airport Director Barbara McNally said last week construction is expected to begin in Spring 2024 and the hangar could be functional later that year. The Lawton Metropolitan Area Airport Authority plans to seek funding from the City of Lawton’s Capital Improvements Program for its 60 percent share. It will repay those funds from rent paid by new tenants.

It’s a project local airport officials have been discussing for several years. They analyzed ideas they said could bring more owners back to the Lawton airport to house their aircraft. That isn’t possible now because Hangar 3, the existing commercial hangar, remains at or near capacity, McNally said.

The new hangar would be large enough to house four or five aircraft, and would be built on vacant land west of Hangar 3, meaning it would be adjacent to the runway and taxiway. McNally said the project is possible because of a funding allocation the Aeronautics Commission doesn’t often provide, a hangar development program.

Lawton isn’t the only airport looking at new hangars to tempt new tenants. Chickasha Municipal Airport won approval Tuesday for a $430,340 state grant for its $1.075 million project to build two 75-foot by 75-foot hangars. Chickasha City Manager Keith Johnson said that airport’s hangar is “at full capacity now,” with a demand for more space coming to the facility.

In addition, Lawton wasn’t the only airport in the region designated for airport improvement projects.

Two projects for Halliburton Field in Duncan were set in the airport construction grant program, contingent upon the commission receiving acceptable applications for state grant funds. Aerospace and Aeronautics Executive Director Grayson Ardies said work at the airport was divided into two grants:

• $979,913 in state grant funds toward a $1,452,540 project to build a new east-west taxi lane at the airport. The agreement specifies $400,000 in federal grant funds and $72,627 in local funding.

• $25,671 in state grant funds toward a $513,420 project to rehabilitate the airport’s apron. The project also will receive $462,078 in federal grant funds and $25,671 in local matching funds.

Chattanooga’s Sky Harbor Airport also won acknowledgement of its project to rebuild its airport apron, receiving $89,243 in state grant funds for its $93,940 design cost on that project. Designs will be completed in 2024, with plans to bring the project back to commissioners for bids in Spring 2024, Ardies said.