The Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells Airport

special and a very nice place to visit, and there are many times that I look out there and there are people just enjoying watching airplanes take off and land.” Today the Airport is owned jointly by the City of Baraboo and the Village of Lake Delton, which help subsidize its operations. There are five part-time and two full-time employees on staff. “We had four municipal owners for many years,” Murphy explains. “We lost two owners (the Town of Delton and the City of Wisconsin Dells), who didn’t want to pay for our recent runway reconstruction project because they could not afford their share, so they resigned as owners. But this was a good move for the future of our Airport, because both municipalities support it, see where it’s going, and, possibly, where it could be in ten or twenty years.” Last summer’s runway reconstruction project cost $2.9 million and expanded the Airport’s main 5,000-ft. asphalt runway, which was last rebuilt in 1991, from 75 to 100 feet wide, allowing the facility to accommodate larger commercial planes. The City of Baraboo and the Town of Lake Delton subsidized Murphy’s Flight Center a total of $36,000 to keep his business aloft during the 10-weeks in which the Airport was closed. The Airport still maintains one of its original grass runways, which is only open, each year, from mid- April to mid-November. Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells is home to 50 general aviation aircraft as well as Freight Runners Express, a cargo operation that operates between it, Milwaukee, Middleton, Mineral Point, and Rhinelander. All of the Airport’s hangars, except two, are privately-owned, and Murphy reports that there is a waiting list for hangars, with a couple of new ones just beginning construction. “Our Airport is also commonly used as a reliever airport for the Madison Airport for corporate aircraft,” he adds. “If the weather is terrible in Madison, they’ll come to us. We’re the only ones in the area with a facility that can support some of those types of aircraft.” Ed Geick, City Administrator for Baraboo, believes that Baraboo-Wisconsin Dells holds a competitive edge over some nearby facilities by virtue of its location as well as its privately-owned FBO. “The THE BARABOO-WI SCONS IN DELLS A I RPORT