By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Orthopedic corporate flights are still a key component of air traffic at Warsaw Municipal Airport — with three-fourths of the flights at the airport being corporate of some kind.
But there’s a fast-growing segment involving flights serving the farming communities across northern Indiana.
A Texas-based company has sunk its roots into the Warsaw airport because it serves as a central point in north central Indiana, in a region surrounded by counties that a dominated by farms.
A good portion of that comes from Whitley County, which does not have an airport.
Airport manager Nick King said the increased traffic has boosted fuel sales.
“We were able to set a special fuel rate for those agri-flight operations, and that has been widely successful,” King said. “Last year, we sold 20,000-22,000 gallons to the crop dusters. This year, we’re on track to sell 70,000 gallons to them, so it’s tripled year over year.”
Area farmers are also benefiting.
“It’s more about supporting our local agriculture because it drops the price for what the farmers pay for the application rate on their fields,” King said.
“They’re able to have more fields supplied than they were last year because it’s so much cheaper,” he said.
King talked about the trend and other airport-related issues with Mayor Jeff Grose in an interview with News Now Warsaw for this weekend’s broadcast of In The Know, the public affairs show you can hear this weekend.
King also talked about the city’s cooperation with Kosciusko County, in which the county has agreed over the past year to provide money to support the airport.
The city had been seeking to establish an airport authority agreement with the county, which would establish a county-wide tax rate to support the airport.
That plan was opposed by the county, but the two sides seem to have reached a gentleman’s agreement in which the county has provided $500,000 in the past two years t support improvements at the airport.
Grose was asked about the agreement, but avoided saying what kind of agreement they had reached.
“We greatly appreciate the support,” Grose said. “I’m so thankful that we have individuals like Nick at the city and the county level who are working together. The realization is that the airport is more than a municipal airport. It is an airport that serves the entire county.”
The airport is using this year’s $500,000 installment with $600,000 of its own money to reconstruct the east-west runway over the next three years.
King was asked if the work would be happening without county support.
“It would not be possible,” King said.
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In The Know can be heard at the following times:
News Now Warsaw (99.7 FM and 1480 AM):
Fridays at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Saturdays at 7 a.m.
Sundays at 7 a.m. & 2 p.m.
WRSW (107.3):
Sundays at 6 a.m.
Willie (103.5 FM):
Sundays at 6 a.m.
