TUPELO • The Tupelo Regional Airport Authority on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for a three-month study of the pavement to determine if there are any major deficiencies that need to be fixed.
A pavement study was done in 2016, which revealed some potential issues, and this year’s study will be used to compare results.
An engineering firm will take samples along the 7,100-foot runway, and the two studies “will help give us a roadmap on whether we’re wearing out the pavement quicker and help us plan for the future and whether we have a major reconstruction project we need to be looking at in the next couple of years, or if the pavement is holding up like the physical observation indicates and we can wait five years or so,” said airport executive director Cliff Nash.
The study, which will be paid for by the airport, will cost about $90,000.
If the study reveals major work needs to be done, the airport can turn to grants to help pay for them.
In 2016, Tupelo Regional received a $950,000 grant to help repair the parallel taxiway. A year earlier, it got a $716,779 grant for runway safety improvements, fencing installation and runway rehabilitation.
The 2020 study, Nash said, will look at the runway, taxiway, and aprons at the airport.
The study four years ago indicated that some sections of the apron would not support heavy aircraft, like the C-17 Globemaster plane that flew into Tupelo twice in the past year ahead of President Trump’s visit.
“What’s also important is the National Guard units that are here, and when they deploy, they use C-17s,” Nash said. “So we want to make sure the apron has the strength that was recorded four years ago, of if might have been a soft spot that was recorded at the time. We just want to make sure.”
The pavement study is one of several projects scheduled for the airport this year. In addition to the study, the airport recently finished installing LED lights along the parallel taxiway and replaced 10 signs on the airfield. Another 48 signs will be replaced this year.
“So we will have rejuvenated and remarked the parallel taxiway, we’ll crack-seal the north apron of the T-hangars and we’ll reconstruct the older taxiway which has fallen into pretty bad repair. We’ll be digging that out and doing reconstruction, not just repair,” Nash said.
Contour contract
Contour Airlines’ contract to provide air service in Tupelo expires Sept. 30, but both sides expect the service to continue.
“We’ve been extremely happy with Contour,” Nash said. “They’ve done a great job and continue to do a great job and continue to grow, and we look forward to future years with them.”
Contour successfully bid for the service that began in April 2016 via the Essential Air Service program, which subsidizes the flights via the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The agreement between Tupelo and Contour was modified in 2018 to what’s called the Alternate EAS program, whereby the city uses the money to pay the airline directly for completed flights.
Passenger boardings have topped 10,000 for the past three years, a feat not seen since the mid-2000s when the city was serviced by two airlines.
For the first two months of this year, more than 2,500 boardings have been reported, a 40 percent increase over the same period a year ago. March is shaping up to be a record month, officials said.
Other airlines are expected to submit bids for service, but Contour CEO Matt Chaifetz said he’d like to continue the successful service in Tupelo.
Twitter: @dennisseid
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