Dec. 13—VALPARAISO — Porter County Regional Airport's runway system is longer than at Midway International Airport, but it's going to get even bigger.
Director Kyle Kuebler said a 500-foot extension to the main runway is planned, probably within the next 10 years.
The airport acquired the former Indiana Department of Transportation garage on U.S. 30, vacant for years, at a surplus property auction this year, he told Valpo Chamber members at a Valparaiso County Club luncheon.
The airport is also planning to build a 16-unit T-hangar, but even that won't be enough to meet demand. There's a waiting list of 77 for that type of hangar and 115 requests for other hangars.
The challenge is waiting for the money to accumulate to pay for this kind of work. That takes about a decade.
With runway extensions, the federal government typically pays 90 percent and the state 5 percent, making it easier for the locals to afford the project, Kuebler said.
The airport is busy. It ranks No. 1 in Indiana for based aircraft and No. 3 for estimated operations, according to the Indiana Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation. According to the Federal Aviation Administration's airport master record, the airport has 128 based aircraft and 69,888 operations — takeoffs and landings — annually, as of 2014.
Kuebler expects that number to increase with improved technology used to monitor airport operations.
Kuebler is the 72-year-old airport's third director, having been hired in 1991 after his predecessor died in office. Kuebler was working at the airport at the time and decided he needed experience with job interviews. After he landed the director's job, he didn't have to worry about interview experience.
It was a busy first two months. The first month, he had to draft an annual budget. The second month, the airport switched from being a county department to being controlled by an airport authority. That's a quasi-governmental agency with more financing options to help the airport grow.
The airport authority has its own property tax rate. That, along with a fee for services like refueling aircraft, helps finance airport operations.
Revenue bonds can help, but a tax-increment financing district could help airport officials react quicker to meet corporate needs, he said.
"We've done a lot of things at the airport in the last 30 years, and right now there's a lot left to be done," Kuebler said.
In the mid-1960s, Bethlehem Steel flew representatives to Allentown, Pennsylvania, to show what kind of airport the steel industry needed in Northwest Indiana. As a result, the 3,000-foot runway was doubled in length, to 6,000 feet. It has since grown to 7,000 feet, the result of a 1989 project.
In 1983, the airport added an instrument landing system that helps aircraft land safely in all weather conditions, even when visibility is poor. "In a corporate sense, that's what you need," he said. "Our primary jets are still using the longer runway and instrument landing system for most of their operations."
Corporate jets are popular for business travelers, who can travel to thousands of airports on their own schedule by chartering a flight or by sharing ownership of an aircraft with other businesses, Kuebler said.
The airport has handled a variety of aircraft since its inception in 1949, the largest being a Boeing 757 carrying then-Vice President Joe Biden. The Secret Service had just four days to investigate the airport thoroughly before Biden's first flight there, Kuebler said.
The airport has seven employees, making it larger than some other general aviation airports.
"Aviation is an industry that requires a lot of time and sacrifice," Kuebler said. Some airport directors have to both fill out paperwork and mow the grass. Kuebler does inspection and maintenance work as well as paperwork.
"Aviation generally is a very audited, very inspected industry," he said. "There's always someone looking over your shoulder."
Currently, the airport is at the edge of Valparaiso, with part of the surroundings in the city limit and part in an unincorporated area. Development near the airport continues, with buildings even now being erected at the Eastport Centre business park.
The airport will soon update its master plan.
"I haven't had time to think about retirement," said Kuebler, 60. "Thirty years has gone by just like that."
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