Business View Magazine | February 2021

176 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2021 awarded a substantial grant, $4.365 million dollars, for the airport, as part of the federal government $1 billion fund to upgrade rural airports. Out of 37 airports in Nebraska that applied for a grant, only three received it, and we were one of the three. So Thomas County Airport will be closed from about the first of March until the first of July. Paulsen Engineering of Cozad, Nebraska, is leading the rehabilitation project – they’ll be grinding up our old runway and taxiway and apron and replacing it with all new concrete. We currently have 4400 feet and a lighted field that’s controlled by the pilot and there’s not another lighted field within 65 miles in any direction of us and nothing that will handle jet traffic.” The new runway/taxiway will be equipped with LED lighting. At this point, the airport does not have an FBO, but that is on the wish list down the road. As are additional hangars. They recently finished construction of a large new hangar but it’s already full. Johnston explains, “We have lots of room for more hangars but we’re a small county and about a quarter of that is taken up by the national forest. Consequently, it’s a tough deal as far as taxes are concerned, so we have to rely on grants to do any expansion or upgrades. The biggest problem right now is that quite a few planes coming in are asking if we have Jet A fuel available. We’re presently working on an agreement to have that brought in by the time the airport is finished in the summer of 2021. Turbine traffic prefer to come in light and go back out a little heavier, which keeps them from having to stop on the return trip. So we’re going to make it work out for them, somehow.” The Sand Hills of Nebraska is among the top regions in the U.S. for beef cattle and it’s all grazing land, rolling hills, with very few crops other than alfalfa for supplemental feed. The landscape is truly sand that over the years has grassed over and become idyllic pasture country. As a result, a number of ranchers out of Texas, California, Oklahoma have bought property in the region and have their own airplanes, usually