MIDLAND, Texas — An idea to move the Midland Airpark was grounded before it was even able to take off.
In 2021, the Midland City Council began to seriously consider moving Midland Airpark. The council believed that a move would open up valuable real estate in the area.
However, the conversation appears to have come to an end. In order to move Midland Airpark to the east side of Midland International Air and Space Port, it would have cost the city around $124 million.
Even though Midland Airpark isn't as big as Midland International, there is still a lot of traffic that flows through it, which creates business for the Tall City.
"The primary benefit to Midland from that facility is just the economic benefit that it helps with," Midland City Councilwoman Lori Blong said. "There are a lot of different businesses that will fly executives into the Midland Airpark, and then they are able to have meetings in Midland in different areas and transact business."
The $124 million that would be required to relocate the airpark would come at the taxpayer's expense.
"The main part of that would be re-creating those facilities out at the other airport, and so we would have to re-create all of that," Blong said. "It would cost about $124 million to re-create the existing facilities on the east side of Midland International Air and Space Port."
Blong believes that doing something like moving the airpark just doesn't make sense right now.
"We’ve gathered the data, and the ultimate decision is that it’s too costly and it’s not in the best interest of Midlanders," Blong said.
Besides the business that Midland Airpark brings to the Tall City, there is one other benefit to keeping it open. It centers on having a better relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Our airport system received significant amounts of dollars from the FAA annually for maintenance and for other capital projects, and things related to our airports, and so we need a good working relationship with the FAA to be able to garner those dollars and keep those projects moving forward," Blong said.
Blong also said that she believes there are some ways that the city of Midland can work with the FAA to continue to improve on Midland Airpark. One suggestion from Councilwoman Robin Poole is to try and beautify some of the space at the airpark.