Maury Regional Airport Could Get $8 Million in Improvements

June 4, 2021

Jun. 3—The Maury County Budget Committee has approved a plan to allocate $400,000 to the Mt. Pleasant's Maury Regional Airport over the next two years as part of a larger roadmap to rehab the runway and make safety improvements.

As approved, the county's planned contribution will solidify an $8 million grant that would bring improvements to the 30-year-old 6,000-foot runway.

The program will be funded through a matching grant program in which both the local airport and the Tennessee Aeronautics Division will partner to provide 5% toward the project, while the Federal Aviation Administration provides 95% of the project's funding.

The decision to support the plan was made unanimously in a vote by the budget committee. Commissioner Tommy Wolaver made a motion to approve the project, which was seconded by Matthew White during a special-called county budget committee meeting on Tuesday.

"Realizing that the airport is very important to the economy of Maury County, I am going to move that we do this," Wolaver said.

Committee members Scott Sumners, Michelle Haney, Gwynne Evans, Brian McKelvy, Sue Stephenson, White and Wolaver each cast their approval of the plan that would include two contributions of $200,000 over the next two years.

The project will renovate the airport's 6,000-foot runway to better accommodate larger and heavier aircraft and also bring safety improvements decreasing the slope away from the runway's southward facing side stretching over a mile in length.

The project will also transition all of the airport's lightning to high-efficiency LED bulbs.

Greg Martin, a member of the airport's board, said the project also includes a plan to purchase land that neighbors the airport as part of a "land bank."

Martin said the purchase price of the land can be used as the 5% match for the larger project, according to engineers working on project.

"The bottom line is that it's like acquiring land for free for the airport," Martin said. "The grant is already in play. We are doing the engineering work for it right now."

When acquired, the land would serve as a site to construct a set of new hangers.

Martin, said the new hangers will provide a space to house luxury private aircraft used by executives and country music stars that frequent the regional airport.

"It will accommodate the $10-20 million jets that some of our local residents like to fly around in," Martin said. "Those jets can be taxed as personal property so there is a chance there is some redemption in the $400,000 that we are asking for."

Martin said the plan will continue to solidify Maury County as a premier location for businesses to establish their operations.

"It will allow us to reap bigger benefits down the road," Martin said.

An Aviation Economic Impact Study released earlier this year by the Tennessee Department of Transportation found that the regional airport's economic impact totaled approximately $13.9 in 2019.

The study determined Maury Regional visitor spending contributed about $3.8 million and offered a $5.2 million in payroll through accommodating 81 jobs as part of the state's $40 billion aviation industry.

The airport surpassed other surrounding airports, according to the study which represents the 2019 annual economic impact of the aviation system on the state's economy.

The Lawrenceburg-Lawrence County Airport generated a total economic impact of $2.1 million. Lewis County's John A. Baker Field provided $407,000, while Wayne County's Hassell Field brought in $265,000, Hickman County's Centerville Municipal offered $957,000 and Dickson County's Dickson Municipal added $2.4 million to the region's economy.

Maury Regional also surpassed Lincoln County's Fayetteville Municipal, which generated $6.8 million during the same time period.

Martin said the improvements will continue to attract larger shipping operations and executive aircraft to the local airport — the sector which generates the most profits for the regional airport.

"We have been very mindful of who our real customers are," Martin said.

"The hangers at other large airports in Nashville and Smyrna are full. When it comes to the region, we have the only 6,000-foot runway. They can't compete when it comes to the size of the runway that we have. There are a lot of businesses that will benefit from this in Maury County."

With seven enclosed hangars and an AWOS weather station, the airport attracts a variety of users, from the flight enthusiast to corporate, military and medical transports.

The airport is a permanent base for Vanderbilt University Medical Center's LifeFlight program.

Touted as the largest of its kind between Nashville and Huntsville, Ala., the regional airport has experienced a boost of activity in recent years as the region continues to attract international businesses.

In 2015, the airport underwent a nearly $3.3 million makeover to improve its facilities.

The project included relocating its taxiway to accommodate larger planes. The 6,000-foot strip can now land aircraft like DC-9s, which are about as large as a Southwest Airlines jet.

The General Motors Manufacturing Plant in Spring Hill is one of the airport's largest customers in moving freight.

The airport has proven to be a vital recourse for the manufacturer's assembly line, offering a means to quickly transport essential tools and materials to the plant.

Martin said the airport is also beginning to see flights arrive with supplies for the new Mazda Toyota Manufacturing facility in Huntsville.

In recent years, the airport has become the site of the revived "Thunder Over Maury" summer celebration hosted in partnership with the neighboring city of Mt. Pleasant, in which car collectors and private pilots meet on the airport's tarmac for a summer afternoon.

Established in the 1950s, it wasn't until 1961 when the airport officially became associated with the city of Columbia and Maury County, which each gave $27,000 to the facility, while the city of Mt. Pleasant, donated the land known as the " Old Wheeler Farm."

One of the first fixed-base operators of the airport was the late Stu Smith. During the 1970s, '80s and '90s, the late Joe and Jean Zimmerlee operated the airport with their company, Mid Tenn Aircraft, Inc. The airport is now managed by Paul Turner.

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