Sussex County’s Delaware Coastal Airport is receiving $5.5 million in federal support.
Delaware Coastal is a former Naval airfield serving Georgetown with two runways for private and business flights.
Many of the smaller aircraft use its crosswind runway in bad weather conditions.
The Federal Aviation Administration grant will fund the construction of a taxiway for that runway so planes can get out of the way of other flights as soon as they land. This will allow incoming flights to use their navigation systems (RNAV) for landing in low visibility.
Sussex County Engineer Hans Medlarz says this will make the airport safer and allow for more flights in and out.
“Let’s say you had planned to fly in at night and the weather conditions are somewhat, let’s say, windy. So you would currently not be able to do that because you may be subject to crosswinds at the main runway and you can’t use the crosswinds runway, because it’s not clear for instrument approach,” said Medlarz.
Medlarz says the new taxiway will also allow the airport to add more hangers, making room for storage of more private planes and potentially attracting additional flight businesses.
“It is an additional economic benefit, not for the immediate but for the intermediate term. So, in the next few years, you’ll see additional hangers being constructed along that taxiway,” he said.
The FAA has put nearly $40 million towards Delaware Coastal’s growth over the past decade.
The 400-day contract for construction on the airport’s new taxiway is with Dover’s George & Lynch Inc. and is set to be completed sometime next year.