Smyrna Airport (KMQY), gets $5.1M to support hangar project

MURFREESBORO — The Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport received suppport totaling $5.1 million last month to put toward the construction of a $9.7 million hangar complex.

The hangar complex is part of the Smyrna/Rutherford County Airport Authority’s 20-year development plan, said John Black, executive director of the airport.

Additional site preparation was also factored into the hangar’s design overlay, he said

“By having the infrastructure on the ground, you have the ability to attract new clients,” Black said.

Approximately $3.5 million in various grants was supplied by the Federal Aviation Administration through the Aeronautics Division of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Black said.

The Industrial Development Board of Rutherford County contributed $330,000 of the $5.1 million, Black said, who added that the IDB sees their contribution as an investment.

“One of the primary goals of the IDB is to promote and bring jobs to the county,” Black said. “That’s what this project is designed to do.”

Rutherford County and the town of Smyrna supplied money totaling approximately $1.2 million, Black said, but those funds are in bonds that the airport will pay back during the next 20 years.

The project, which will include a 24,000 square-foot hangar and 13,000 square feet of development for office space and additional infrastructure, is projected to be complete by the beginning of 2015, Black said.

During the previous fiscal year, the airport accounted for $44 million of expenditures and an additional $34.6 million in payroll, according to the airport’s 2012 economic impact report. The airport employs 3,725 people.

Additionally, the airport induces an additional $18.7 million in output for businesses in Rutherford County that use the runways, according to the report. This supports 1,660 jobs outside of the airport.

Growth in Rutherford and Davidson counties during the next two decades will result in more relief flights to Smyrna, Black said, as the Nashville International Airport may eventually reach a traffic capacity.

“Airports are a tremendous economic engine for the community,” Black said. “Fortune 500 companies that are household names arrive and depart from the airport very frequently.”

Story and Photo:    http://www.tennessean.com