Kentucky Recognizes Importance of Rural General Aviation Airports

When Kentucky’s Aviation Commissioner Steve Parker met with Gov. Matt Bevin, and was asked what he needed, Parker said he told the governor he needed money to fix “crumbling” general aviation airports. Bevin delivered on his promise by adding $10 million for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 into the budget. “We did 47 projects in our 53 GA airports,” Parker said. Deputy Aviation Commissioner Todd Bloch added, ”Before Gov. Bevin gave us the additional $10 million for each year, the jet-fuel tax money was only able to do band-aid fixes. instead of doing a total runway overlay or reconstruction we could only address the major cracks, but we never could get a complete project done.”