The Kansas Legislature on Wednesday approved a bill tripling the amount of money that goes toward keeping up public airports, which are increasingly coping with deteriorating runways, taxiways and aprons.
The Senate and House voted to pass the legislation, which increases grant funding for the state’s 109 public airports to $15 million from $5 million a year. The Senate passed the bill 34-5 and the House passed it 117-4. The bill now goes to the governor.
“This is a huge win for Kansas airports,” said Scott Wagner, the airport manager in Lawrence and board president of the Kansas Airports Association.
“Passage of this bill will allow for so many more infrastructure projects at Kansas airports to be completed,” Wagner said.
“We know this is just an initial step to fund the gaps in airport infrastructure, but it’s a great first start,” he said.
A recent report by the Kansas Department of Transportation identified $1.3 billion in overall needs for the state airport network over 10 years along with $589.6 million in available funding from all sources – a difference of $743.8 million.
The report concluded the state needs $33 million more a year to bring airport pavement up to satisfactory condition without accounting for other airport needs across the state.
The new report assigned pavement ratings to airports across the state on a scale of 0 to 100, with anything 65 and above considered in “good” condition, meaning that the runways, taxiways and aprons are safe and maintenance is cost effective.
Anything below 65 means the runways, taxiways and aprons are starting to deteriorate and will cost exponentially more to be rehabilitated.
Anything 40 or below means the pavement’s unsafe for regular use with ruts and large chunks of debris. Reconstruction of these facilities is lengthy and costly.
Statewide, airports have rating of 62.8. Other smaller Kansas airports that do not qualify for federal funds had a rating of 48.7.
The state receives far more requests for funding than it has money for.
The state Transportation Department said it received 135 grant applications totaling $46.5 million for the $5 million that’s available in fiscal year 2025.
Increasing the amount of money in the program would allow the state to support more pavement preservation and maintenance projects at airports across the state, transportation officials said.
It also would go toward improving statewide air ambulance access, they said.
The Kansas Hospital Association backed the legislation, saying there’s a growing need for more safe and reliable points to get air ambulance service to rural areas.
Tara Mays, the hospital association’s lobbyist, told lawmakers there are times when aircraft won’t land at the airport nearest a medical facility because of runway configurations or the lack of an automated weather observing station.
“This requires our hospitals to transport in ways that prevent the patient from accessing the timely care that they may need,” Mays said in written testimony.
“As our state continues to evolve in how the delivery of healthcare occurs, the need for additional investments in our state’s air infrastructure is necessary to provide Kansans with the right care that they need at the right times,” she said.
