Monday was a day to celebrate aviation in the Pine Belt with the announcement that a new taxiway will be built at Bobby L. Chain Municipal Airport, Mayor Toby Barker said.
August 19 was also National Aviation Day, which coincided with the birthday of American aviation pioneer Orville Wright, established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939.
The Hattiesburg airport is “the center of private aviation here in South Mississippi and plays an important role in our economy,” he said.
The city received a $1,574,496 grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s Strategic Multi-Modal Investments Fund to improve an existing runway and build a new one at the airport. The city will contribute an additional $334,989, bringing the total investment to $1,909,485.
Barker made the announcement during a press conference on Monday.
“The aim was to create an additional taxiway and thus attract new customers and to further expand the private hangar space at the airport,” said the mayor.
The taxiway extension will allow for further expansion, including approximately 7,400 square meters for up to ten hangar spaces. In addition, improvements will be made to an existing road built during World War II to create another taxiway.
The expansion will encourage business jet owners to locate in Hattiesburg and allow larger aircraft to be based at the airport permanently, Barker said. The private investment will be used for infrastructure improvements, and when the lease expires after 50 years, any improvements to the hangar space will become city property.
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The Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center will also benefit from improvements to the Bobby Chain Airport, as there is no full-fledged airport on the military base. The airport currently supports ongoing training exercises for Camp Shelby.
Airport manager Chip Gibson said the airport already houses more than 40 aircraft and serves as an air rescue center. It is home to Mississippi Air Rescue 7 and is used for inter-facility transfers at both Forrest General Hospital and Wesley Medical Center.
According to Gibson, the airport has managed to make optimal use of the available space, but its capacity has become too large.
“The bottom line is that we need more space to accommodate more aircraft and grow,” he said. “This grant will allow us to grow. We’re very pleased about that.”
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