$1M for tower, $10M to resurface taxiway
The Kissimmee Gateway Airport recently announced the award of two grants to the city-owned airport from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program. The grants total over $11 million and will be matched by state and airport funds.
A $1 million grant will be used to design a new air traffic control tower to replace the current facility erected in the late 1990s. Since the tower will be staffed by air traffic controllers under contract to the FAA, it must meet all the standards for an FAA facility. Part of the design process requires extensive simulation of the proposed tower cab layout to ensure each controller in multiple positions has an unrestricted view of aircraft both in the air and moving on the airfield.
“We intend to complete the new tower design process within a year, and to be ready for additional FAA funding for construction as soon as the design is completed,” said Shaun Germolus, the city’s Aviation Director.
While the current tower is located off Dyer Boulevard, the proposed site for the new tower is at the end of Patrick Street. It is estimated that the design height of the new control tower will be around 80 feet, “towering” over the existing 45-foot-high facility. The increased height is dictated by the need for visibility over hangars and other structures that have been built since the opening of the existing tower.
Although not as exciting as a new, highly visible control tower, the FAA is also providing a $10.3 million grant to reconstruct Taxiway “Delta,” which provides access to the airport’s runway system from the airport’s northwest side. That quadrant of the airport, located off Hoagland Boulevard, has the highest concentration of aviation businesses on the airport including the fixedbased operator Odyssey, which provides services to some of the thousands of aircraft that visit the airport each year, and the regional Cirrus Aircraft maintenance operation.
The taxiway project will cover asphalt repaving and upgrading the taxiway lighting system to more efficient LED fixtures. Also included is the realignment of Taxiway “Charlie,” which crosses Delta and the airport’s main runway at an angle, which causes visibility issues for both pilots and air traffic controllers. Charlie is actually part of a World War II-era third runway that was decommissioned in the 1960s when Thacker Avenue Elementary School was constructed on the eastern boundary of the then very underutilized airport.
Germolus also mentioned that the airport’s annual traffic has completely recovered from the COVID-19 downturn, with aircraft traffic on track for 150,000 operations occurring this year, a “sweet spot” for the airport’s controllers and operations staff, according to Germolus.
For more information on the Kissimmee Airport see https://bit.ly/3PajQr0.
