The Smithville Municipal Airport is now selling jet fuel.
A new fuel farm was recently completed at the airport which provides jet fuel for the first time ever in Smithville. “Our old fuel farm has been removed at the airport. The AVGAS is completely gone. The old fuel farm. The new AVGAS and new jet fuel, fuel farm is up and running. Hopefully we’ll get more planes in here because of it. We’re the cheapest in this region,” said City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson during last week’s meeting of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen.
The new fuel farm was funded mostly by aeronautics grants from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
Tracy Foutch, Owner of Foutch Industries, LLC was Smithville’s first jet fuel customer. He told WJLE Tuesday that having jet fuel available locally will mean a lot to businesses and industries and possibly contribute to future growth. “What the fuel does for our company personally is it gives us a quicker response to our customers. It also lets other businesses that are here and future business prospects come in and fuel their aircraft while they are looking around the area. It will also help the local economy because if people can come in here with their planes and fuel then they’re more likely to do that rather than go to other airports and spend that money with them,” said Foutch.
More than a year ago, the Smithville Aldermen approved the bid for the fuel farm project. The bid was awarded to the TPM Group upon the recommendation of the city’s airport engineer Craig Clairmont. TPM’s base bid amount was $544,920. The original grant amount for the fuel farm was for $330,000 but the state later approved an amendment to the grant for an additional $220,000 to cover the costs. The city, which had already paid a five percent local match of $16,500 for the grant, had to come up with an additional $12,250 for the local match of the grant amendment.
Meanwhile the city may soon hire a new airport manager. Three applications/resumes have been submitted from persons interested in the job. The city’s airport committee is expected to review the applications/resumes and make a recommendation to the mayor and board of aldermen. The deadline for submitting applications was last Friday, February 5.
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