Airports director outlines trust structure, international targets and infrastructure upgrades

Jeff Moulder, director of airports, said the airport operates both as a city department and as the Oklahoma City Airport Trust, a state-authorized trust established in 1956 that lets the airport issue debt and manage facilities separately from the city's general fund.

"We are a combination of a city department, but we're also a trust," Moulder said, explaining the trust board includes the mayor, the city manager, a city council member and two private citizens. He said the arrangement allows the trust to develop and operate airport facilities — including the Mike Moroni Aeronautical Center — without using the city's general-obligation debt.

Moulder reviewed the airport system, naming Will Rogers International Airport, Wiley Post Airport, Clarence Page Airport and the Mike Moroni Aeronautical Center as the trust's primary facilities. He said passenger volumes rose from 2024 to 2025 and described spring-break peaks: "we're seeing somewhere between 8 and 9,000 people a day fly out for spring break. When you add all the incoming passengers, you're approaching 20,000 people a day in your space," he said.

Why it matters: the trust structure affects how the city finances airport projects and how the airport markets property and service expansion. Moulder said one of the airport's strategic priorities is increasing international air service; the airport completed a federal inspection station in 2024 that allowed the first international flight in November (American Airlines to Cancun) and is targeting Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America next.

On infrastructure, Moulder listed upgrades included in the airport's annual business plan: restroom and floor upgrades, outbound baggage-system work, boarding-bridge replacements and automation. He said construction of a parking garage begins this year to meet demand and that a major intersection reconstruction — converting Meridian and Amelia Earhart to a roundabout — will expand terminal-area capacity and is being timed for completion before the 2028 Olympic events.

Asked how the airport attracts airlines, Moulder said staff maintain regular outreach with carriers and marshal community and economic data with city and state partners. He cited a recent public–private partnership in which a tenant, AAR, and the state provided funding for an 80,000-square-foot widebody hangar that expanded MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) capacity.

On energy and facilities, Moulder summarized a recent comprehensive assessment: "we had our call yesterday. It was like 85 slides of information," he said, describing numerous opportunities across older facilities for lighting and weatherproofing upgrades but warning payback must be weighed against relatively low local energy costs.

Moulder also noted operational priorities such as workforce training at the aeronautical center — including air traffic controller training — and that the airport primarily funds operations from enterprise revenues rather than city general funds.

The presentation closed with an invitation to follow-up questions and a reminder of a raffle for airport tours later in the session. The department spotlight concluded with an invitation to attend next month's program featuring the city clerk and MAPS office.

The airport briefing provided an overview of financing, expansion targets, near-term capital projects and operational priorities; staff and council will be the next likely audiences for project-level budgets and implementation timelines.