Business View Magazine - Dec 2023

Regional Airport Manager Brian Fornwalt, and he told us all about his workweek, the many and varied workings of the 2,000-acre airport, with its annual budget of just under $300,000, and so much more. The Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport is a full- service, general-aviation airport that serves a five- state region that consists of southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle area and southeast Colorado and northeast New Mexico as well. FORNWALT MAINTAINS A BUSY SCHEDULE. “I work five days a week,” he reveals, clarifying that it’s “usually five days a week, but sometimes it could mean coming in on the weekends also, depending on what happens. Usually, the hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and then 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays. I also get called out in the middle of the night sometimes, depending on what happens.” He continues that as with most such regional airports, the facility began its life as a base for the United States Army Air Corps (the precursor of the modern U.S. Air Force) during World War II. From 1943 to ’45, Liberal Army Airfield, as it was then known, was the center of training for countless young pilots who learned to fly B-24 “Liberator” bombers, famed in all the theatres of World War II but especially renowned for their work in the Pacific against the Japanese Empire, due to their long-range capabilities. Fornwalt adds that the airport features two concrete runways. The longer one is 7,105 in length and 100 feet in width, capable of serving such jumbo jets as a Boeing 737, and its shorter counterpart is 5,000 feet by 75 feet. Lyddon Aero is the airport’s FBO or fixed-base operator, and it also offers flying lessons. “They do a great job for us,” says Fornwalt. “They stay competitive on their prices.” The Kansas State University at Salina Aerospace and Technology Campus, some 250 miles away, also offers an aviation training program, as Fornwalt points out. He continues that SkyWest Airlines, the largest 361 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 12 L I BERAL MID-AMERICA REGIONAL AI RPORT