Small airports making the most of limited improvement dollars - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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As airport manager and presidentgof , the airport's fixec base operator, Holman plans to add a general aviation air an industrial park, a new administratioh building with a restaurant and additional aviation spacre for corporations. All he needs is the funding tomove Yet, there is a limitec amount of funding available. PennDot'xs Bureau of Aviation receives onlybetween $6 million and $8 million annually for its airport developmentr program. This money, in turn, is doled out to 138 public-user airports in Pennsylvania fordevelopment projects, such as building terminal buildings, runways or taxiways.
Some of it -- abouty 65 percent -- is matched with federalp funds, according to Brian Gearhart, engineeringf manager for PennDot's Bureau of And, it can be difficult for airportx to get funding from sources outsid of the state andfederal government. Although almost every local airport has something goinvon -- ranging from extending runways to coming up with new 20-yeare development plans -- they still are struggling to becomse independent from state and federal according to Sara transportation planning manager at the Downtown-based , the regional planning agency for a 10-countt area in southwestern Pennsylvania.
"Aviation has made a remarkable comebackmsince 2001," she said. "Now, if we could see an economicc upturn and get morebusineszs activity, that would be wonderful. Airports are stilk struggling tobe self-sufficient and come up with new ways to make Airports such as Latrobe-based get most (97.5 percent) of theier funding for capital projects through state and federalk grants. However, the last part is funded throughn a local match that comes from the airport and the This money, as well as the airport's operatinfg expenses, come from services such as landing fuel sales, car rentals and revenue brought in from the airport's restaurant.
The airporft also sometimes issues bonds to get the locak money for thecapitap projects, according to Dwayne Pickels, a spokesmanb for the Westmoreland Count Airport Authority. Butler County Airport and Arnold Palmer are both extending theitr runways to makethem safer. While Arnold Palmedr received $9 million in state, federal and local grants for the Butler County Airport hasreceived $4 At Arnold Palmer, the move will enable the airport to accommodatwe a 757 and better serve its charted aircraft by allowing them to take off with more fuel and according to airport manager Gabe And, Rock Airport of Pittsburgh has receive d $9.3 million in state funding to help pay for a runwau extension.
The airport just opened up its runwayh to traffic at the end of Januarh for the first time sincs it began the project fouryear ago, accordinyg to Rock Ferrone, president of Ferrone is now working to get additionaol funding for the developmeng of Rock Airport and hopes the airporrt will be selected as part of a new federa pilot program designed to pay airports what the valu e of the land would be if it were developedd as something else such as a Wal-Mart.
He plans to raisew $11 million in funding to build ahangar facility, terminapl building, fuel facility and FBO, as well as for additiona l lighting and a ramp Of the $11 million, the state has already committerd $5 million and Ferrone hopesz to get the additional $6 million from the pilotr program. Ferrone expects to find out within the next 90 days whetherf the airport is selected for the If not, he plans to seek out privatse lenders. "We would be the firstf airport in the nation to participatein (this) speciakl pilot program," he "It cures the development rights of privately owned airports.
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