Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport has been assured of three years worth of funding under a recently approved U.S. Department of Transportation funding bill for 2021.
U.S. Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, said Wednesday Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport will receive more than $3 million in multi-year grant funding, money that will be dedicated to a terminal renovation project already under way at the airport.
Airport Director Barbara McNally said the action is the regular reauthorization of $1 million in Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funding that is designated for the Lawton airport each year. The big change this year is the multi-year designation. In recent years, the airport has been notified of its $1 million allocation a year at a time. With this bill’s multi-year designation, airport officials know they are in line for at least three years of funding designation.
That comes as the airport is moving into the next phase of a terminal renovation project that already has added a new carousel-style baggage claim system and a temporary secured passenger holding area, along with upgrades to the general public area. The airport is preparing to move into the next phases of its terminal upgrade, which will include building a new secured holding area twice as large as the existing one, adding a covered walkway between the holding area and aircraft, expanding the TSA passenger scanning area, and making upgrades to the exterior of the terminal and in the ticketing/check in areas.
McNally said the AIP funding will be dedicated toward that project, giving the airport assurance it can repay a loan from a bond program the airport’s governing board set in place last year to help fund terminal renovations.
“This lets them know the $1 million a year can be dedicated to retiring that debt,” she said.
“I am delighted that the U.S. Department of Transportation has selected the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport to receive more than $3 million in grant funding that will support critical facility improvements,” Cole said, in a statement. “Remodeling this key infrastructure installation in Southwest Oklahoma will not only benefit Fort Sill military personnel, their families and the Lawton community, it will also help attract more travel to the area and ultimately strengthen and potentially grow the local economies.”
The Airport Improvement Program is federal funding dedicated to airport projects that enhance safety, capacity, security and environmental concerns.