Allen County’s airport is “The Little Engine that Could.”
Beginning in the 1920s, the airport was situated on 29 acres on North Cottonwood across from Highland Cemetery and was under Iola’s domain.
After World War II, the airport became a hub of activity when the GI Bill provided pilot training there. W.E. King, airport manager and “dean” of the flying school, enlisted Navy veteran Johnny Womack to help teach the flight school. Its first class enrolled 27 ex-servicemen.
By that fall, 44 veterans representing six towns and three counties, were taking advantage of “Bill King’s flying school.” In three years’ time, 63 veterans had secured their pilot’s licenses through the program.
The Iola National Guard battery also used the airport, keeping a two-seater plane in one of its hangars.
Iola continued to invest in the airport. By late 1949, it boasted an all-weather, 24-hour landing strip that included a blacktop runway 2,000 feet long and 50 feet wide, an ample ramp or taxiway in front of the main hangar, plus the lights.
Realizing the growing airport’s proximity to a growing town was going to become a growing problem, Iola leaders in 1967 sold the valuable land and used its proceeds to build an industrial tract along Highway 169, today’s north State Street.
In 1976, Allen Countians voted by a two-to-one margin for a new Allen County Airport.
In February 1978, executives from Gates Rubber Co. headquarters in Denver flew into the airport in a Learjet, the first time a “pure” jet had landed at the airport. That Allen County had an airport of such size no doubt played a role in Gates’ decision to locate here.
In 1991, Kansas Sen. Bob Dole announced the Allen County Airport would receive more than $1.5 million for airport projects, including lengthening the runway to 4,100 feet to better accommodate private jets.
Fast forward and the airport’s presence today is more important than ever.
In the last few years, more than $5 million has been invested in the airport, primarily by taking advantage of Covid-19 relief programs and grants. The results include a new runway, lighting and weather station, a renovated taxiway, and most importantly infrastructure that connects the airport with Iola’s water and sewer lines enabling it to become an industrial base.
Aviation brings about $767,000 annually to Allen County according to a recent KDOT aviation study. An average of 45 planes arrive or take off at the airport each day. At 5,500 feet and 100 feet wide, its runway is one of the longest in Southeast Kansas.
In essence, the airport is an asset not only in current terms, but what it could mean for future growth if an industry locates there.
It’s vital that city and county leaders keep that goal in mind.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Allen County Commission it was revealed that a longtime customer is pulling out of the airport due to what he perceived as unfair treatment.
