Smyrna Airport Receives $2 million Grant

Smyrna Airport will soon get more than 2-million dollars to renovate its runway.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (today/yesterday) announced a total of 20-million dollars for improvements to general aviation air centers.

The small airports are often overlooked, but TDOT spokeswoman Kim Keelor says the state depends on them.

“They serve a very important purpose for our state in the realm of building economic opportunity, for shipping especially for the just in time delivery service that we all demand now, and also as reliever airports now for larger flight centers, larger airports, when they get tied up and smaller aircraft, private aircraft, small business jets need somewhere else to land, they now go to the smaller general aviation facilities, so they’re really serving a more and more–increasingly important role.”

Smyrna’s Airport, a former Air Force Base, has been a shipping hub since the early 90s. Now it’s also home to a charter jet company, a flight training facility, and several aircraft repair and maintenance businesses.

The grants will be funded with a combination of federal money and state taxes on airport use and diesel fuel. In most cases the money will be used on basic improvements.