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FAA Awards Eisenhower, Jabara Airports $4.4M For Improvement Projects

KMUW/File photo

The Federal Aviation Administration awarded about $4.4 million for improvement projects at Wichita’s Eisenhower National and Jabara airports.

The money will be used at Eisenhower to improve taxiway lighting and expand areas where aircraft are parked, loaded, refueled or boarded. The airport will also build a new taxiway and buy two rescue and firefighting vehicles.

Eisenhower National Airport opened three years ago to replace a terminal that was 61 years old.

Jabara airport will receive $471,214 to buy land for approaches.

The FAA awarded infrastructure improvement grants to 29 other airports throughout Kansas.

“Our airports are essential in supporting $1.6 trillion in total economic activity and nearly 11 million jobs; these federal grants will help our airports to maintain safety and improve efficiency for freight and passengers,” said Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in a news release.

U.S. infrastructure, especially its 3,323 airports and 5,000 paved runways, increases the country’s competitiveness and improves the traveling public’s quality of life.

Eisenhower Projects total $3,955,728:

  • $553,540 Construct Apron
  • $753,901 Rehabilitate Taxiway Lighting
  • $1,525,500 Acquire Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting Vehicle [Vehicle 4], Acquire Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting Vehicle [Vehicle 5]
  • $1,122,787 Construct Taxiway, Expand Apron

Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar. To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.