Who knew Oshkosh was a window seat on the world? World of aviation that is.
Watonga Airport Manager Jena Ohman and City Manager Karrie Beth Little traveled to Oshkosh Wisconsin July 24-27 to attend the EAA AirVenture conference.
The excursion started earlier this year when Grayson Ardies, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Aeronautics and Aviation, issued the invitation to Watonga.
The event, he said, is open to anyone, but he was especially interested in having Watonga represented.
“I thought Watonga would be a good add because of the upcoming west side development,” he said.
The city has just announced a grant that will add a taxiway, new hangar space and a $3.5 million terminal.
“We were asked because we are in the expansion mode of our airport,” Ohman said. “We were already working with the state promoting general aviation and aviation businesses to bring those businesses and activities back to the state.”
Little said it was eye opening to those who stopped by the Oklahoma booth – shared among Watonga, Ada, Ardmore, Bartlesville and Elk City – that aviation is the second largest industry in the state and probably the fastest growing.
“The Legislature has invested so much in aviation in the past five years,” Little said. “And the FAA and the ODAA have invested so much into the Watonga airport. This experience allowed us to see the business side of aviation. It opened our eyes to the potential for our airport as we enter the next phase of our development.”
That potential is something Ohman has always seen. She became the airport manager in 2017, back when the city was still governed by a council and mayor. Little hands it to her for her forward thinking management even when no one was interested in the stagnant airfield.
“She was trying to get the city to see the growth opportunities and what it (the airport) could bring to Watonga, to have the city invest along with state partners,” Little said.
“At the same time the state agencies were trying to get the state to invest in aviation,” she added.
“We’ve been successful because first we made our own changes,” Ohman chimed in. “That got the attention of the state agencies. Now we can plan because we are getting investments and grants on a regular basis.”
Ohman said that from her inauspicious start five years ago, it now feels the airport has the support of the state, the city and its citizens as proved by the more than 400 who turned out for the May fly-in.
Little is looking to the future for the airstrip.
“We saw what we need to do to promote the airport and what businesses are looking for when they want to grow and move,” she said.
“The west side development will spur additional hangar growth, recruit new companies and business lines and we’ll use the airports to do that,” Ardies said. “We want to be part of that expansion.”
(At Left) Airport manager Jena Ohman and City Manager Karrie Little at the booth in Oshkosh.
Photo courtesy of Jena Ohman