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Hastings Municipal Airport reports passenger, training and maintenance growth; seeks a based jet to access larger federal funding
Summary
Airport manager Matt briefed council on expanded services, a new maintenance operation (J and S Aviation), high annual flight activity, apron and lighting projects, and a campaign to secure federal funding tied to obtaining a based jet.
Matt, Hastings' airport manager, told the city council the Hastings Municipal Airport has grown its general aviation operations and facilities in recent years and is pursuing a based jet to improve the airport's eligibility for additional federal funding.
"We want to be the best general aviation airport that we can be," Matt said, describing the field's role in training, business, medical and agricultural aviation. He said the airport has two runways (crosswind runways totaling almost 11,000 feet), more than 40 based aircraft and an estimated 22,000 takeoffs and landings per year based on the Nebraska Department of Transportation's past licensing estimate.
Matt credited a full-service fixed-based operator (FBO) and a maintenance and avionics business, J and S Aviation, for recent growth. He said J and S Aviation relocated to Hastings from McCook, moved several employee families to the city, and performs a range of maintenance and refurbishment work on the field. Matt said the city receives 10 cents per gallon from fuel sales as a contribution back to the general fund.
On infrastructure, Matt said the airport has federal funding secured for a deteriorated apron and that the apron project is out to bid with the goal of completion within roughly 12 months. He also described an ongoing safety concern with airfield lighting: some fixtures are more than 30 years old and have failed on arrival, prompting the airport to seek congressional-directed funding after an earmark was lost when Congress passed a continuing resolution. Matt said he filed a congressional-directed spending request through "Fisher's office." He described working with local economic-development partners to pursue congressional assistance.
On the airport's strategic goal to increase federal support, Matt said the airport "meets all of the other requirements to become a regional" airport except for having a based jet on the field; obtaining a jet would raise the airport's classification (presenter term used: "NIPIUS rating") and allow the airport to compete for larger federal grants and build additional hangars if funding became available. Council members asked clarifying questions about readiness and requirements; Matt said other infrastructure and administrative prerequisites are already in place.
Matt highlighted community engagement activities—monthly burger feeds, air-show and movie-night events, Young Eagles flights and hosting the all-women Air Race Classic—and said those programs, plus partnerships with local businesses, helped Hastings win the Nebraska Department of Transportation's 2023 Airport of the Year award. He also noted frequent medical flights, military training approaches and occasional organ-retrieval flights that use the field.
Matt invited council members to tour the airport after the meeting and identified Aaron Schart as a member of the Airport Advisory Board who would join tours.
