Local airports to receive $30,000 from relief package

Local municipal airports will receive $30,000 each from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is seeking to help the airports hit by a dip in traffic brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fairfield, Washington and Mt. Pleasant's airports will all receive the $30,000 sum, while larger airports are receiving more money. For instance, the airports in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids are receiving about $23 million each. In all, 79 airports in Iowa will collectively receive about $70 million in aid, money coming from the federal government's coronavirus relief package.

The money is part of the Paycheck Protection Plan, and as such has a few strings attached to it. For instance, it must be used specifically on airport operations such as payroll and utilities. Bob Lyons, manager of the Fairfield Municipal Airport, said the money could not have come at a better time because the industry is in bad shape.

Lyons, who sells fuel at the airport as well, said his fuel sales are down 80 percent in the past month or so because so few people are flying. He said the $30,000 should cover the main losses for the airport, but he fears it will be a long time before consumer confidence returns to its pre-virus level and people feel comfortable returning to the skies.

'It reminds me a lot of 9/11,” he said. 'It took a long time for people to go back to flying after that.”

Lyons said he's lucky that he has a contract with the city of Fairfield, which covers the management and upkeep of the airport like maintaining the runway lights and mowing the grass.

'If I didn't have that contract, there's no way we'd stay afloat,” he said. 'It's impossible because there's no income. There's a lot of suffering going on for everybody.”