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Oklahoma City Airport Trust maps 2026 real estate priorities, cites aging assets and staffing challenges
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Summary
Tiffany Lawson, real estate administrative manager, told the trust on Dec. 18 that the airport system manages roughly 350 agreements across three airports and will focus in 2026 on infrastructure, a rideshare canopy, a customer lounge, a Meridian/Amelia Earhart roundabout by mid-2028 and a parking garage project.
Tiffany Lawson, administrative manager of the real estate division for the Department of Airports, told the Oklahoma City Airport Trust on Dec. 18 that the division manages roughly 350 agreements across the city’s three airport properties and is preparing a detailed business plan for 2026.
Lawson said Will Rogers (OKC) encompasses about 8,081 acres, Wiley Post about 1,568 acres and the general aviation CE Page about 1,270 acres, and that an outside survey placed OKC among the nation’s largest commercial airport land-holdings. “It’s huge,” she said, describing the scale of assets the division must steward.
Why it matters: the real estate portfolio generates nonairline revenue, supports jobs and shapes longer-term economic development opportunities for Oklahoma City. Lawson said the division pursues efficient long-term agreements, market and rent studies, and targeted monetization of underused assets — for example, short-term parking permits and a temporary lease to a federal entity (FEMA) — to diversify revenue beyond flight operations.
Lawson listed several near-term priorities staff will convert into detailed projects with cost estimates in 2026, including restroom and outbound-baggage work, boarding-bridge upgrades, a parking-reservation system and a proposed rideshare pickup canopy at the upper level. A trustee asked whether the canopy would include lighting; Lawson’s team said yes, noting a canopy both provides cover and additional locations to mount lighting to improve safety and visibility.
The trust’s long-range planning also includes a Meridian/Amelia Earhart intersection reconstruction — planned as a roundabout — targeted to be finished by mid-2028 to support expected demand around the Olympics, Lawson said. Staff described a 30-year development plan that staff will break into specific projects, and noted ongoing work at Lariat Landing (the airport’s business park) including added infrastructure and potential airport-developed spec hangars to attract aeronautical tenants.
Infrastructure projects at noncommercial fields were highlighted as well: Wiley Post work includes a new control tower design (staff are seeking federal funds for construction) and perimeter-fence replacement, and Clarence C. Page Airport has a planned vendor logistics management purchase with NAPA Auto Parts.
Operational challenges Lawson raised include records-management work to digitize decades of legacy leases dating to the trust’s 1956 incorporation, maintenance of aging hangars (some from the 1940s), the complexity of federal/state/municipal regulation, and recruiting and retaining staff with specialty knowledge. Lawson introduced several team members who support inspection programs, concessions and the airport concession disadvantaged business enterprise (ACDBE) program.
Next steps: staff said the presentation is a preview and that a January return will present a formal 2026 business plan and more detailed project cost estimates.
