CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice and leaders with the West Virginia Aeronautics Commission announced today that a combined total of $777,291 in grant funding has been secured for use across the state’s 24 airports.
The grants were approved during the WVAC’s latest meeting on Tuesday.
“I’ve said many times that the airports in our communities across West Virginia fuel everything: our economy, our tourism, and on and on,” Gov. Justice said. “They are a gateway into West Virginia and I’m excited that my administration is going to be able to provide this grant funding to help our airports continue to develop into facilities that truly showcase our great state.”
The total amount of funding being provided to the state’s network of airports comes from four different types of grants.
Among the types of grants are General Revenue Grants. Each of the 24 airports in the state system will receive an equal $12,500, providing a combined total of $300,000 all across the state.
Three airports will also receive grants from Special Revenue, provided by the Aviation Fuel Tax, to provide a portion of the local match for additional Federal Aviation Administration Grants. Yeager Airport in Charleston will receive $28,813 from the WVAC to go toward a project to rehabilitate their runway, Raleigh Memorial Airport will receive $45,701 from the WVAC to go toward a project to reconstruct their taxiway, and Greater Cumberland Airport will receive $277,777 from the WVAC to go toward a project to rehabilitate their runway and relocate power lines. The combined WVAC grant total on these projects comes to $352,291 and opens up access to millions more in funding from the FAA.
The final two types of grants will support the West Virginia University Fire Extension. One of these grants, valued at $75,000, will reimburse WVUFSE for costs associated with training firefighters with the Aeronautics Commission on their Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Simulator.
A final $50,000 grant will go toward reimbursing WVUFSE for the annual maintenance costs of the same simulator.
“The Aeronautics Commission is proud to support Governor Justice’s mission to ensure West Virginia maintains a safe and economically prosperous air system,” WVAC Director Sean Hill said. “We’re thrilled to be able to put these grants to use at each of our state’s airports and we’re excited to see the improvements and advancements that come out of this funding.”
Over the past several weeks, Gov. Justice has also announced that he has devoted millions more dollars to fund a pair of major projects at West Virginia airports, including one project to build a U.S. Customs building at Yeager Airport and another to help jump-start a major infrastructure project at North Central West Virginia Airport in Bridgeport.