Nearly $200,000 in federal dollars fund ongoing Kinston airport renovations

May 17--The one advantage to having so few airline passengers coming through the Kinston Regional JetPort is it has given airport officials the time to get the facility to a state where it can handle a new flow of passengers, should an airline return to Kinston.

"During the week, we don't have regular passenger service, so now is the perfect time to get the terminal ready and prepared for future passenger service," said Don Howard, airport director.

The Kinston airport has not had scheduled commercial passenger service since early 2008, although charter flights are available during the weekends.

Airport officials have spent nearly $200,000 in grant funds this year completing renovation projects.

The JetPort received $189,270 in Federal Aviation Administration Vision 100 grant funds for projects this year, including completing terminal renovations -- a three- to four-year project which will wrap up in 2012 -- replacing all outdated lights and signs on the runway and taxiways, and replacing three key-card entry gates to the airfield.

The funds were among more than $9.6 million in federal funds distributed to 63 general aviation airports around North Carolina, according to a press release from the N.C. Department of Transportation's Division of Aviation. The funds came to the airports through the Division of Aviation.

Airports around the state receive $150,000 block grants from the FAA annually. They must put up a 5 percent match.

In Kinston's case, there were some leftover funds from a previous grant, so officials rolled it into this year's grant, Howard said. That allowed Kinston to have extra money to put toward renovations.

Howard said airport officials have capital projects every year that get funded with the FAA grants.

"Next year, we just move on down the list of our priority capital projects," he said.

Howard and other local leaders are working with consultant Jack Penning to woo a new air carrier.

He said the ongoing improvements are not directly related to the effort to find a new carrier, but they will make the facility ready to welcome passengers.

"That effort is ongoing," he said. "We're still very much engaged in recruiting air service, but I can't comment any further than that."

Lenoir County Economic Development Director Mark Pope said there had been about 300 responses to a recent survey sent to businesses in Eastern North Carolina to gauge their interest in air service in Kinston.

Pope said he will talk with Penning on Monday about the survey results.

"It looks like we had pretty good response," he said.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.

Copyright 2012 - The Free Press, Kinston, N.C.