Cochran, Wicker Announce $1.5 Million in FAA Grants For Mississippi

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)

U.S. Senators Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss. reported that airports in  Oxford, Gulfport and Lumberton will receive a combined total of $5,581,350 in grant funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

“The grants are an important investment in the economic future of our state,” said Cochran. “These airport improvements can increase the access that businesses and residents of these Mississippi communities have to new markets and destinations.”

“This funding will help advance air transportation services in these Mississippi communities,” Wicker said. “The projects financed by the FAA grants will increase revenues, bolster economic development, and improve safety.”

The University-Oxford Airport, a general aviation facility owned by the University of Mississippi, received $4,226,350 in project funding. The grant provided is assigned for the construction of an airport apron – the area of an airport where the aircrafts are parked, unloaded or loaded, refueled, or boarded.

Harrison County’s Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport – a joint civil-military public-use airport serving Mississippi’s Gulf Coast – received a grant in the amount of $1,200,000. The funds will be used to restore the airport’s apron, taxiway, and terminal building, in addition to widening the taxiway.

The city of Lumberton has received a $155,000 grant that will provide federal funding for the I. H. Base Jr. Memorial Airport, a general aviation airport in southeast Mississippi. The project will fund the construction of a 7,500-square-foot hangar building to assist the airport in generating revenue.