STARKVILLE – Construction on a 1,000-foot runway extension at George M. Bryan Airport will begin next month, marking progress on a project more than a decade in the making.
“It took us 10 years to buy the piece of land to the south end down there,” Airport Director Rodney Lincoln told The Dispatch following the Starkville Board of Aldermen work session Friday. “… Once we got that done, everything started moving. The design is done, the contractor has been selected, it’s been bid and he starts next month on the dirt work.”
The runway project is the first in a series of multi-million dollar upgrades planned for the airport, including a regional emergency response center, a new terminal complex and a new hangar. Most projects are funded through Federal Aviation Administration grants, supplemented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the city and Mississippi State University.
The city acquired 27.4 acres south of the airport in fall 2022 to allow the runway and taxiway to stretch to 6,500 feet. The airport received about $2.7 million this year, primarily from the FAA, for the extension, though Lincoln estimates the full project will ultimately require an additional $10 million to $12 million.
“What this will do … is allow for larger planes to come in,” Airport Operations Manager Rusty Bouchillon said during the meeting. “We’ve had to turn some down that wanted to come into Starkville. That’s a lot of fuel sales we couldn’t accept.”
Lincoln hopes to see dirt work, paving and lighting installation to be complete by fall 2027 but noted that weather or delays in grant funding could push that timeline.
The airport has also secured nearly $2.1 million in grants and local matches to construct a regional emergency response center, which will function as part of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Aircare and Disaster Response Operations for northeast Mississippi.
About 90% of the design work is complete, and construction should begin next year.
“Just as soon as we get the final designs all approved and finished, the city will look at it and approve it and then we’ll put it out for bids and go from there,” Lincoln told The Dispatch. “That could happen next month.”
The roughly 70-by-100-foot facility will sit adjacent to the south hangar off Airport Road and will include a security gate and ramp. It will house an air evacuation team, as well as disaster and emergency response personnel. Lincoln expects the airport to generate more than $100,000 annually in rent and fuel sales once the facility is operational.
Future projects
The airport is still awaiting grant funding for the construction of a new terminal complex. The 9,800-square-foot project includes a two-story building, new access road, parking lot and ramp extension.
“What it’s going to do is it’s going to bring the first impression for Starkville,” Lincoln said. “When they come here and land and come inside and see all this, they’re going to (say) ‘Wow, this is really good.’”
The complex is planned in two phases: the building and access road, estimated to cost about $8.7 million, followed by the parking lot and ramp extension at about $3.97 million.
Lincoln said the project hinges on receiving a major FAA grant, totaling between $7 million and $8 million, to fund the first phase. If received this year or early 2026, Lincoln said construction could begin mid-2026.
“Auburn has the nicest terminal building out of all of them right now in the SEC,” Lincoln said after the meeting. “Here as soon as ours comes through, it’ll be second on the list as far as how well it’s built and how well it’ll function.”
The airport is also seeking funding assistance to construct a $1.2 million hangar and ramp.
“I’ve got over 20 aircraft on the waiting list to move to Starkville from other locations, and they won’t move here until they have a hangar to put their aircraft in,” Lincoln said. “This is for probably two more jets that are coming.”
The airport recently applied for roughly $500,000 through an MDOT grant and plans to use two FAA grants totaling about $590,000 to support the hangar, leaving the remaining funds to be covered locally. Once funded, construction would take about eight months.
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