Coastal Bend airports to receive needed upgrades thanks to Eagle Ford Shale revenue

 

Photo by Michael Zamora, Corpus Christi Caller-Times

 Michael Zamora/Caller-Times County Commissioner Jim Price closes the electric bi-fold door on his T-hangar Thursday where he houses his Cessna 210 at the McCampbell-Porter Airport in San Patricio County. The county plans to spend a $1.1 million grant to add 15 more hangars to its already full airport.

CORPUS CHRISTI — Millions are being spent at airports around the Coastal Bend, partly because of boosts in the economy due to Eagle Ford Shale and partly because repairs are long overdue.

Joe Montez, executive director of the Bee Development Authority, is part of a group working to make the Chase Field Industrial Airport public. The first step is installing GPS so pilots can use instruments to land, rather than landing simply by sight. This means they'll be able to land safer when it's foggy or rainy.

The price tag for the upgrade is $200,000, with $100,000 coming from the Beeville Economic Improvement Corp. The rest came from development authority and through private donations.

"Chase can serve the region because it is a very large airport," Montez said, declining to comment further on the movement to turn the private airport public.

The city of Alice, on the other hand, is ready to spend $5 million on a variety of upgrades to the city's airport. For example, a new lighting system will be installed, crews will repave and re-stripe the runways and a precision landing instrument will be put in place. The funding is through a grant with the Texas Department of Transportation.

Charles Brazzell, Alice airport manager, said the project was in the planning stages before the Eagle Ford Shale boom because the runways and taxiways needed an upgrade. Just over a year ago a company was hired to manage the airport, putting in new bathrooms, showers, snack bars and a pilot lounge.

"It's a brand new face-lift," Brazzell said. "It's really encouraging to be out here and seeing all this happen. We have had quite an influx of planes.

"Since all this boom with the oil companies and everything, we have a lot of executives that fly in and out," he said, adding that also H-E-B executives have been flying in to check out progress on the store's renovations.

Another grant from the Department of Transportation will allow reconstruction of the asphalt runway and south taxiway at the Kleberg County Airport. The projected cost is $4.7 million.

Meanwhile, San Patricio County is ready to spend $1.1 million through a grant with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation. The money will pay for 13 T-hangars and two box hangars. Currently, the airport has space for 50 aircraft, and it's full. The airport, conceived in 1986 and opened in 1994, is fairly new.

There also are plans to build a crosswind runway under the Department of Transportation's five-year plan.

"Our growth has very, very little to do with Eagle Ford Shale," said San Patricio County Commissioner Jim Price, who oversees the airport, adding that the airport was at full volume several years ago. "We like to think that we're very general aviation friendly."

Price believes there have been fewer people buying aircraft, and more people moving to the area. He surmised that some of the growth at the airport is due to a company hired to manage it.

Ruben Saenz, Nueces County airport manager, said fuel sales are up at the Robstown-based airport, and he's doing everything he can to capitalize on the oil and natural gas boom. The county has some of the lowest fuel prices in the area, which lured one helicopter operator to fuel up at the airport, spending $4,000 in 72 hours. The county also is improving its credit card system to accept aviation cards and payments over $300.

The airport committee also has plans to build hangars, runways and taxiways, but construction of Interstate 69 is stalling the planning stage. That's due in part because the city of Robstown has plans for a foreign trade zone north of the airport, and the committee believes it would benefit the county and city if they worked together on an entrance to the properties.

"We're looking at the big picture at what everyone else is doing, and we're trying to fit our pieces in," said Cecil Johnson, chairman of the airport committee. "We're going to make Robstown a corporate aviation headquarters, whether they know it or not. We're going to take a sow's ear and turn it into a silk purse."

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