South Bend Airport Will Receive $13.3 Million to Rebuild Taxiway -- the Most for Any Airport in Indiana

Sep. 1--South Bend International Airport will receive $13.3 million for upgrades and other area airports will receive about $2.9 million as part of a $1.2 billion program announced Tuesday by the Department of Transportation. 

The money in South Bend is earmarked to rebuild a taxiway. Other area grants are as follows: $1.9 million to Warsaw Municipal Airport to rehabilitate a runway, $736,775 to Michigan City Municipal-Phillips Field to purchase land and $316,666 to LaPorte Municipal to update the airport's master plan.

The new grant is made available through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The South Bend grant is the highest in Indiana, followed by the $10.3 million going to the Indianapolis International Airport to rebuild a taxiway and runway.

Julie Curtis, vice president of marketing and air service development at the South Bend airport, said the work here has been planned for about five years and is part of a three-year $50 million project to reconstruct and realign Taxiway B at the airport.

Such grants typically require a state and local match of 10%, but this year, the state and local matches are being covered by money from the CARES Act, Curtis explained.

Work should get underway this year. While the first phase should be completed next year, the overall project won't be finished until 2024.

Curtis said construction will not interfere with flight operations at the airport. Though business is down at the airport because of the coronavirus, the airport actually is doing better than the national average in terms of both the number of passengers and the number of flights.

"Our passenger counts are about 45% to 50% compared to a year ago while the national average is closer to 30%," said Curtis, who pointed out that the airport is benefiting from the high number of nonstop flights to vacation destinations in Florida, Arizona and Las Vegas.

While the airport has lost about 30% of its flights because of the coronavirus-induced slowdown, the national average is closer to 50%, Curtis said. "People want to travel, especially for leisure or to visit second homes," she said. "There's a lot of pent-up demand."

In all, Indiana airports received $42 million in airport grants.

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