Ocean Isle Beach airport receives $1.2 million grant

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — An airport in Brunswick County is one of ten in North Carolina that will receive state and federal funds.

In March, The N.C. Board of Transportation approved $12.2 million in grants.

“Grants such as these make sure we maintain that link between our state and national and global markets,” said NCDOT Director of Aviation Bobby Walston. “They keep our 72 public airports safe and able to better serve the pilots, businesses, and passengers that rely on them.”

Odell Williamson Municipal Airport in Ocean Isle Beach will receive just over $1.2 million for land acquisition, including rights-of-way and utilities, and preliminary engineering on an expanded runway protection zone.

Other airports receiving funds include:

• Ashe County Airport: $350,000 to acquire land and existing hangars
• Kinston Regional Jetport at Stallings Field: $2,000,000 for terminal building repairs
• Mount Airy-Surry County Airport: $480,000 for design and preliminary engineering on a new apron and new hangars
• Piedmont-Triad International Airport: $500,000 of design funding for a taxiway over future I-73
• Plymouth Municipal Airport: $3,803,486 for construction of a parallel taxiway and related permitting
• Siler City Municipal Airport: $37,000 for preliminary design of navigation easements and obstruction clearing
• Stanly County Airport: $1,740,604 for 120-inch pipe rehabilitation
• Statesville Regional Airport: $1,850,000 for the construction of an eastside parallel taxiway
• Tri-County Airport (Aulander): $256,360 for vault relocation.

Airports and aviation-related industries contribute $31 billion to North Carolina’s economy each year, per a 2016 report. There are 123,400 airport-related jobs in the state