After what has seemed like a very long wait, the runway at Watonga Regional Airport is fully operational and has been in the spotlight at its ribbon-cutting.
The ribbon-cutting, held Tuesday, was celebrated by city officials, members of the public and various dignitaries from the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission and the Department of Transportation.
The work on the runway was done via Federal Aviation Administration grants for $2.8 million to rehabilitate, light and reconstruct the runway.
The speakers from Watonga Mayor Bill Seitter to Tim Gatz, secretary of transportation for the state highlighted how much aviation contributes to the state and to small towns.
General aviation airports like Watonga and commercial airports like Will Rogers account for $10.6 billion in economic activity in the state. Maintenance, repair and overhaul businesses – MRO – number at more than 1,000 in the state, and according to Oklahoma State Director of Aeronautics, Grayson Ardies, many of those businesses seek out small towns.
Now that the runway, the backbone of the airport’s infrastructure is complete, Ardies said the sky is the limit.
“We can build whatever we want to build now,” he said. “We could build a flight school to get kids excited about aviation.” He also noted more hangars could be built to house more planes, bringing in more income to the airport and the city.
The aeronautics commission offers a high school curriculum to get students interested in a career in the aviation field. Those students could soon find a good paying job in the industry.
“With Oklahoma’s business friendly climate, people who come here fall in love with small towns. When those people are business owners, they decide they want to move their businesses here from places that aren’t as friendly,” Ardies said.
While some MRO businesses must be on airport property, others can locate nearby. For instance, Ardies said there are many shops that handle the smaller parts rather than an entire engine overhaul. Those parts need to be remanufactured, painted or coated, reassembled and sent to other facilities that use them as part of a larger airplane assembly.
Towns like Watonga benefit from those shops because the employees live in the towns, spending part of their wages, sending children to school and buying or building homes.