NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – For the third straight year, North Platte Regional Airport will miss the passenger threshold for $1 million in federal funding.
Airport manager Mike Sharkey said that if that airport had reached the mark of 10,000 departing passengers by this weekend it could have qualified as a primary airport. He says that allows such airports to automatically receive Federal Aviation Administration grants that would pay for up to 95 percent of project costs.
He says passenger numbers are a little over 9,000 for the year, up 3 percent from last year.
Western Nebraska Regional Airport in Scottsbluff also reports that it fell short of its passenger goal for 2011 and will lose out on the $1 million in federal funding.