Boone County Regional Airport New Construction Coming in 2022

HRO hopeful for big improvements with new federal funding.

The Boone County Regional Airport Board met on Tuesday to discuss several items related to construction and new federal funding made available to the airport for the next five years.

One project that Airport Manager Judy McCutchen said has been bid out three times so far finally has a construction manager selected. The bid went to Bowser Metal Supply in Harrison to build a new 60’x65’ hangar on the north end of the airport. The construction is made possible by a grant from the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics for $250,000. McCutchen said they are covering 80% of the project.

Earlier this month the airport was named as a beneficiary of new funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration which is handing out over $23 million to 65 airports in Arkansas. HRO will receive$295,000 a year for five years from the funding.

McCutchen said it is still unclear exactly how the funds can be spent at this time, and she expects clarification in the spring of 2022.

“I don’t know if they’re going to allow for it but we’re hoping maybe some funding from it to use for the new terminal building,” McCutchen said.

Major renovations to the current terminal building have been planned for 2023 with an estimated cost of $800,000 but McCutchen said that remodel will not be seen by customers.

“The terminal would still look the same as it does today and as it did when it was built in 1967 because we’re so out of date on our wiring and we’re not ADA compliant,” she said, “all the things to bring us up to code and a new roof … would take up all the funding.”

If they can find a way to build a new terminal for $3 million McCutchen said it would be built just north of the current terminal and once it was completed the current terminal would be level to provide additional parking which she says is something else the airport has outgrown.

Exactly what the new funding will be able to be used for is still a mystery and will continue to be until the slow turning wheel of the federal government makes it clear sometime in the coming months.

More on new developments at the Boone County Regional Airport to come soon!