by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — The groundwork is done, and now Wellington Airport manager Patrick Hamlin is waiting to see when the paving of the runway extension will be finished. They have received some grants, but are in a holding pattern about the remainder of the funding for the project that would extend the runway to 5,200 feet from its current 4,200 feet.

The Wellington Airport is self sufficient for the most part as far as running the facility. The airport serves as sort of a gas station for jets making trips across the country. Hamlin said small private jets find it easier to stop in Wellington to get fuel, than to stop at the Wichita airport and contend with all the traffic.

The airport ended the year in 2015 by turning a small profit of about $12,000. That is not a lot in the overall scheme of things, but it does at least show the airport is self sufficient. It cannot however, do large projects like a runway extension with its income. That is where grants come in.

The runway project will cost about $3 million, and it is a 90 percent FAA grant, meaning the airport or city would have to come up with the 10 percent match of about $300,000. That could be financed through bonds and would not need to come directly from city money.

It is still a ways down the road, Hamlin said. They are waiting to see what the FAA will fund, and have broken the project down into pieces over three years. If the Wellington Airport officials get partial funding, they will be able to do some of the work that way. Hamlin said if they get the runway extended they will be able to serve larger aircraft that needs at least 5,000 feet to land. That would mean more traffic and more fuel sales.

The project of improving the airstrip to begin with started in 2011 with a one time payment of $190,000 to the city for oil and gas leases. It was a one time payment that had to be spent at the airport. That led the Wellington Airport Authority to apply for larger grants and improvements have been made to the runway using FAA money.

The airport now has extended parking area and the runway has been lengthened to a degree. Since then they have also done earthwork making the ground ready for the next extension. The authority has also approved an extensive environmental impact study which was required for the grant.

The City of Wellington is not currently having to spend money on the airport. Wellington Finance Director Shane Shields said there has been some money reimbursed from the general fund of the past five or six years, but that has also decreased recently. The city did have to come up with $15,000 for part of a bond issue last year.

The airport gets its money from refueling airplanes or jets, some parking of aircraft as in rental spaces, and from leasing land around it for farming.

When pilots refuel a jet, that takes 300 to 500 gallons and it requires someone to be there. Small private airplanes can refuel using a self service pump must like a gas station for cars, and that usually is 30 gallons or so.

Gas prices for aircraft has also decreased lately, but the margin is about the same, so the airport is not losing any money because of lower fuel prices.

The expansion project could also benefit the city in another way with the expansion of its sewer system. As part of the grant, they are trying to extend the sewer from the city to the airport, and that would mean extending services to industry in the area and all along the route. Currently, they are on the city system but use a lagoon system that is not hooked into the city’s waste water program.

Hamlin said that would also cut down on the number of geese flying over the airport, and that would be better for the airplanes flying in the area.

The city had planned to do the sewer project at some point, but this will make it faster and at a much lower cost to the city.

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