LANCASTER, S.C. — The Trump administration is awarding nearly $800 million in airport safety and infrastructure grants throughout the country through the FAA or Federal Aviation Administration.
South Carolina is flying high with almost $23 million in grants going to airports across the state.
And McWhirter Field Airport in Lancaster – built in 1970 – is one of them.
In an average day, the McWhirter Field Airport in Lancaster manages 65 flights. Annually, more than 4,500 visitors come through the airport for both recreational and business activities.
And just recently, it received an FAA grant totaling $913,000.
“These smaller rural airports are just as important to the system as those big airports because the small airports, they not only serve general aviation, but they ensure communities across the country have things like disaster relief, aeromedical rescue, law enforcement services, overnight package delivery and things like that,” Kirk Shaffer with the FAA said.
The grant will be used for rehabilitating the tarmac to accommodate larger aircraft and installing lights at the end of each runway to enhance safety as pilots prepare to land.
In past years, the airport received 90 percent worth of federal grants, 5 percent from the county and 5 percent from the state. This year, its 100 percent federally funded because of the Coronavirus.
“A lot of small communities. A lot of rural communities. They have to save up so to speak in order to accumulate that local share and so they might have to put off a project for a number of years, until they are able to step up and pay their part of the project,” Shaffer said.
“The intent of the bill, the CARES act, was to assist airports, like Lancaster airport, and not having to come up with a match because of financial strain that has been placed on county governments, as well as state governments,” Ken Holt, McWhirter Field Airport Consultant, said.
These grants, industry leaders say, drive economic development and in Lancaster’s case, also steps the airport up a class.
“What that does to become business corporate or a class 2 airport in South Carolina, it puts Lancaster County further up the totem pole, if you will, on a higher priority list, which entitles us to more grants,” Paul Moses, McWhirter Field Airport Manager, said.
“Transportation makes this country go and grow, and so the investment that the US Department of Transportation and FAA makes in airports of all types and sizes across the country is one of the fundamental pillars of our economy and job growth in the United States,” Shaffer said.
In the video above, CN2’s Sarah Obeid explains more on the grant and what it’s doing for Lancaster’s airport.
