Airport receives money to
extend runway safety area
Regulations require larger
safety area for landing
planes
By Kurt Esposito
Summer
Editor
To upgrade its runway for safety concern, the Purdue
Airport is receiving $1.5 million in federal funds.
The money will be used to extend the safety area
of the runway to meet federal standards.
The safety area is an obstruction-free stretch
of land that extends past the runway designed to give airplanes more
leeway if they overshoot the landing. Purdue airport's safety area is
on the east-end of the runway and is being extended to reach 1000 ft.
Ronald Houston, supervisor of maintenance, said
the airport did have an exemption that allowed it to have a smaller
safety area because there was a gravel area that was not owned by the
airport. He said the federal government has decided not to allow exemptions
for airports anymore.
Work has already begun for the project and is expected
to be completed by the fall.
The money for the safety area is a committed fund
because it addresses a safety issue, but the airport could lose other
funds because of a shortage of passengers, said Betty Stansbury, airport
director.
On Feb 14, United Express, a commuter service operated
by Great Lakes Aviation Ltd., ended its three daily flights from the
airport to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport
The only commercial airliner left is Northwest
Airlink, which has two daily flights to Detroit.
With two commercial airlines, the airport had over
20,000 passengers during the year 2000, said Stansbury. She said with
only one commercial airline this year, they plan to have just over 10,000.
If the airport has less then 10,000 passengers
a year it will lose $1 million dollars a year in funding. Stansbury
said the airport is still trying to find another commercial airline
to use the airport.
"We're still pursuing that; its tough to convince
another airline to try service here in Lafayette," said Stansbury. "They
think it's less profitable than other markets."
She said the airport would like to find another
airline that flies to one of the hubs of the region, such as: Chicago,
Denver, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Memphis.
She said these cities offer great connection for
passengers from Lafayette, because they fly to 400 cities.
Stansbury said the lack of funds would affect plans
to build a new terminal.
In other airport news, the airport officials are
also considering adopting a new name for the airport.
"It's to more accurately portray the airports role
in the community and region rather than strictly a Purdue facility,"
said Stansbury.
She said a new name has not been decided upon and
the name change is still only a possibility.
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