South Alabama Regional Airport recently started receiving an extra $5,000 a month from Vector Aerospace.
Now, Vector pays $30,000 per month for its space.
SARA Executive Director Jed Blackwell said that means that the Covington County Commission now receives $15, 265 per month, up from $13,222 a month.
The city of Andalusia receives $12,070 per month, up from $10,455 a month, and the city of Opp receives $8,165 per month, up from $7,073.
SARA retains $1,500 a month for maintenance.
The breakdown is congruent with the agreement among SARA and the three entities, when the entities refinanced the airport debt.
South Alabama Regional Airport will close the airport runway during a period between Christmas and Thanksgiving.
The closure will allow for an airport improvement project that will repair a bump on runway 29.
The project will consist of milling the existing surface on each side of the bump.
The issue with the runway is that there is a bump where the old runway and the runway extension connect, which provides for a rough transition.
The current bump is 2.16 inches higher than it should be.
To fix it, they will cut out a small section of the runway – 100 feet on each side – and take out the bump, and then re-level to give it a smooth profile.
The cost of the project is around $135,000 with 90 percent being paid for by the Federal Aviation Administration, 5 percent by the Alabama Department of Transportation and 5 percent from local matching funds.
Local contractor Don Bullard will perform the work.
The project could take about 30 days to complete.
Andalusia Star News
The South Alabama Regional Airport Authority hopes to complete some $2 million in airport improvements in the next five years.
SARA Executive Director Jed Blackwell presented the plan at a recent airport authority meeting.
The plan calls for the airport to skip capital improvement projects in 2018 and combine two years’ of revenue to put up new signage on the runway and runway lights.
Blackwell said the current lights were erected in November 1962 and are very old.
“It costs lots of money to repair them,” he said. “They get struck by lightning, and we will replace with LED lighting.”
The cost for that project is estimated at $555,000.
They hope to get $500,000 from the Federal Aviation Administration; $27,000 from ALDOT and match $27,000 locally.
In 2020, they plan to seal coat the helipad.
Blackwell said there is question about whether the FAA will pay for this project because they often consider the heliport a revenue producer.
That project is expected to cost around $500,000.
Regardless, the airport will have to figure out a way to fix the that portion because when larger helicopters such as Ospreys land, they blow chunks of the pad everywhere.
The helipad is the old runway that was built in the 1940s.
In 2021, a new taxiway and runway is on the books, and expected to cost $150,000.
And in 2022, an RSA drainage improvement project, estimated at $840,000, is in the plan.
That project will require $42,000 in local matching funds from SARA.
Overall, SARA expects to get $1.9 million from the FAA, $103,000 from ALDOT and contribute $103,000 in local money to these projects.
Andalusia Star News
South Alabama Regional Airport will be the site of the Andalusia Opp Airshow in November 2018.
The SARA Authority gave Executive Director Jed Blackwell the OK to hold the airshow at the airport.
Blackwell proposed a $200,000 budget, including $90,000 for musical entertainment.
However, the board gave him authority to seek local acts with a $5,000 cap.
The budget calls for spending $50,000 on aviation performance; $11,000 in discretionary; $10,000 for fuel; $10,000 for an airshow contract; $9,000 for hotels, lodging and rental vehicles; and $5,000 each for contract labor, staff and overtime and insurance.
Blackwell explained that SARA would seek sponsorships for the event, and would charge a nominal entry fee.
The airport held an airshow in 2010 with attendance projections of 10,000 to 11,000 people.
“The economic impact to the area is that sales taxes (collections) are very high,” Blackwell said. “It’s a positive thing.”
The three entities that jointly helped finance construction of hangars at SARA, and which pay the note if those hangars don’t have tenants – Covington County Commission, City of Andalusia and City of Opp – also approved the plan.
“2010 was a huge success,” Andalusia City Clerk John Thompson said. “It’s overdue. It’s past time. It’s important to get the public here.”
County Commission Chairman Greg White said he supported it wholeheartedly, and Opp Mayor Becky Bracke gave her approval as well.
Those gathered at the meeting, agreed that the music could be on a smaller scale rather than getting bigger, more expensive acts.
Authority board member Donald Barton said that he thought they should concentrate on doing a “jam up airshow,” and they should get people used to coming.
Kelly Brandin, executive administrator of the Opp Chamber of Commerce, said that they could get local bands for a cheaper price.
Vicki Popwell, president of the Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said they had a long list of acts who wanted to come to July Jamz they could share with the airport authority.
The organizers also agreed to try to keep admission prices affordable for working families.
The airshow is set for Nov. 17, 2018.
Andalusia Star News