Local airport gets $84K grant

PORTAGE TWP. — The Erie-Ottawa International Airport has received a new federal grant of about $84,000. Awarded from the Federal Aviation Administration's Airport Improvement Program, the money will provide funding to design the replacement of Taxiway C's lighting system. The lighting has reached the end of its operational life and must be replaced to maintain safe aircraft movement, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, who announced the grant. This new grant is in addition to two other grants, announced earlier this summer and last year, that have provided millions of dollars for the airport: • This summer, the airport received about $573,000 to begin design work to renovate runways and taxiways. • Last year, the airport received about $6.4 million to expand its southwest apron by about 25,000 square feet, which will expand the airport's capacity. The Erie-Ottawa International Airport is a general aviation airport, so it serves private planes but doesn't have any airline service. It can accept flights from Canada as it has a customs office staffed by a nearby Border Patrol facility. The airport has 40,000 to 50,000 operations a year, with each takeoff and landing counting as an operation. The Liberty Aviation Museum, located at the airport, hopes to begin construction this fall on a third hangar, which will expand the museum's available space. An exact date is not available yet as the museum is waiting for Ottawa County's building inspector to approve the drawings and for the Federal Aviation Administration to OK a final permit, museum CEO Ed Patrick said