New airport terminal nearly ready

Work on a new airport terminal building has apparently been moving slowly but the structure is nearly complete.

Plans were announced more than a year ago to build the new terminal at the New Albany-Union County Airport. Funding is from a $540,000 joint grant from the Federal Aviation Authority and Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The grant was to pay for 95 percent of the cost and the city and county were to equally share the remaining five percent of the cost.

The low bidder was Steel-Con Construction but that bid was about $16,000 higher than the grant so Steel-Con agreed to reduce their bid by that amount.

The small present building dates back to the early days of the airport and only has a couple of rooms.

The new building will have more office space and public area and aircraft should be able to taxi right up to the open rear section of the structure.

Construction was initially delayed due to soil problems at the site.

Past improvements to the airport include extending the runway to handle larger aircraft, constructing more hangars and providing for the sale of fuel 24 hours a day. Officials have said that fuel sales have been particularly good because planes can land in New Albany at night, refuel and take off in less time that it would take to be able to land and park at larger airports.

Another upcoming improvement to the facility is the installation of new LED lighting along the runway, also funded with grant money.