Taking Off with Growth on the Horizon

A strategic vision embracing change and providing the infrastructure to get there

It should not come as any surprise that Texas is home to some of the most dynamic regional airports in the country. Considered a bit of an aviation hub, the state offers exciting opportunities for airports willing to see what is needed to move forward to meet aviation demand. The most successful regional airports in the state are also skilled at capitalizing on the strengths that they can bring to the aviation table.

Expertly achieving this balance, Mineral Wells Regional Airport knows that it is poised for growth and has pinpointed the areas in need, as well as playing to the attributes it already possesses. The airport is also playing a key role in economic growth in the local area solidifying its role as a gateway to the region.

Embracing its role as a regional airport, a designation given to the airport in 2018, Mineral Wells Regional Airport provides two runways, one just shy of 4,200 feet and the other spanning 6,000 feet which enables the airport to host a cross-section of aviation; general aviation enthusiast, flight school students, or families just passing through, to private, corporate, and charter jet traffic.

With a host of infrastructure projects carefully laid out in its airport master plan, Mineral Wells Regional Airport has carefully assessed the areas to focus on the aviation side, and is also firmly focused on expanding its economic footprint and the critical role it enjoys as a key economic driver in the local economy.

Fully Equipped for Anticipated Growth

Pointing to its strategic location, Haley Cuevas, Airport Manager with Mineral Wells Regional Airport, relays, “We are about 40 miles west of Fort Worth and 20 minutes from I-20 which is one of the main thoroughfares of Texas.”

“We have fuel for sale. We sell Avgas and Jet A and can provide self-service fuel now enabling us to hit about 35,000 operations this past fiscal year,” she adds.

The airport is now fully staffed with 8 employees and is owned by the City of Mineral Wells with plans to expand its operations as economic growth takes off in the region.

“We are all about development right now and this is our main goal. It is all about building more hangars and bringing more people to the airport.” Cuevas states.

Already benefiting from two flight schools on the airfield, the airport is also playing its role in ensuring flight training opportunities exist given the ongoing employment shortages in the aviation industry. Cuevas points out that having more than one flight school goes beyond what most regional airports can offer when it comes to local flight training opportunities.

“We are however still seeing a gap in the skills trades area which technical training in aviation falls under.”

To help fill this gap Cuevas highlights the work of the local high school, based in Mineral Wells, and its focus on STEM learning and career areas such as skilled trades and technical specializations.

“The high school has a robust Career Technical Education program (CTE). They have [areas that include] a robotics team and welding. So I think that it helps to have the flight school here because we are always interested in having that conversation of what can do STEM-wise,” Cuevas offers.

A Masterplan Reaching New Heights

Turning to the airport’s master plan, Cuevas highlights the direction she is moving when implementing it.

“We completed our masterplan with Garver, who was the consultant on it, in 2024 and they were incredible to work with,” Cuevas relays.

“They presented it to the City Council in October, and and they accepted it, and now we are going to implement it. Then it goes through an approval process for the FAA. The FAA approved the airport layout plan which is kind of a sub-product from the master plan,” she adds.

“The FAA signed off on it very quickly. We were told that sometimes it could take up to a year and it did not at all. So we are fortunate that it was very fast and it gives us very strong feet to stand on for the developments that we want to do,” Cuevas enthuses.

The airport is also fortunate to have a considerable amount of open land which represents over 100 acres that are available for development.

“Garver looked at this land and kind of zoned it like a city first; what types of hangers do we want in what areas of the airport? Do we want personal hangars over here? Do we want commercials or do we want corporate hangars over here? So we just found the best general idea of where we wanted those things,” Cuevas notes.

Cuevas elaborates that Garver gave the airport three different options to pick and choose from when financing the direction of the airport layout plan.

“We came up with the best use of the land available to get the most bang for the buck.”

“It is not only just a corporate hanger or just box hangars. It is also T hangars, which are small aircraft hangars because not everybody needs a 100 x 100 hangar. They can’t afford it and they don’t want to build it, knowing that a lot of the master plan, as far as getting our hangars built, relies on private investment: we lease the land and they build the hangar.”

Additional Upgrades Landing at the Airport

Cuevas points to other pieces of the master plan that the airport will be focusing on; infrastructure upgrades.

“Outside of the hangar development, the FAA compliance update that we have to make is that we have to decouple our runways. The FAA does not like them coming to the same angle anymore.”

“What we will do is make a portion of the shorter runway inactive and then make aircraft go around to get to the beginning of the new boundary. This way we don’t have aircraft getting on the wrong runway and thinking they have 6000 feet to take off when they only have 4,2000 feet to take off.”

Cuevas also highlights how the airport will change the taxiway that is directly linked to the runway to make sure that there is a turn so people don’t accidentally get on the runway thinking it is a taxiway.

“We are going to do everything right so we don’t have to go back and redo all of this in 10 years,” Cuevas says.

Looking ahead Cuevas points to other items on the masterplan wishlist.

“We may possibly have a drone testing facility or vertiport, or multiple helipads. And then there is a long strip of the pad on the very east end of the airport that we are looking at for aviation, commercial, and industrial development.

The airport is in talks with different individuals currently to potentially develop this area which is “going very well” and this remains an exciting prospect for the airport.

“It will integrate into this plan completely and not change anything that we already have planned. It just works with it and goes together very well.”

Promoting a Productive Route Ahead

As part of the airport’s efforts to serve as a key economic driver for the city and the surrounding region, Cuevas is aligning her efforts with a city-wide marketing strategy to promote Mineral Wells as a key destination.

“I am now under economic development as the airport department and I think that shows where our goals are headed. The City sees the airport as an economic attractor and a place that is growing whether we are ready for it or not, so we might as well get ready,” she determines.

“Looking through the master plan and learning a lot about the statistics of the airport and North Texas in general, we are going to be experiencing a lot of jet aviation in the next five to ten years and we want to be able to cater to that.”

The airport’s marketing and infrastructure developments coincide with the City’s vision of Mineral Wells becoming the ‘Wellness Capital of Texas’.

“The city has become a designated music-friendly city, a designated film-friendly city. So we are doing everything we can to show that we are ready for growth,’ Curevas summarizes.

As for the next little while, Cuevas has her hands full.

“We have a few hangers that are already signed into contracts. So those will be finished building out.”

“We are also trying to digitize more and have more capabilities of software which looks more attractive to developers,” she states.

Cuevas will continue to steer the airport down the best runway as it continues to meet aviation and economic demand.

“I think there is always stuff to be doing and learning. As long as Mineral Wells is growing and the airport is growing I still have a place here,” she concludes.

AT A GLANCE

Who: Mineral Wells Regional Airport

What: A thriving regional airport seeing economic and infrastructure growth

Where: Mineral Wells, North Texas

Website: www.mineralwellsairport.com