According to a Stanford University report, today’s airplanes are 80- percent more fuel efficient than they were in the 1960s. Even so, the next step in the Guthrie County Regional Airport reconstruction project should help with the fuel costs according to Marshall Burgess, Airport Authority Board Chair. 

“We need to upgrade our gasoline storage a little bit. Our card reader, we’re self-service out there is kind of antiquated a little bit. We’ve only got a 1,200 gallon tank, so we can’t order a lot of fuel to get a good price, so that’s probably going to be our next project.”

Burgess points out another big section of the project will be replacing the parking area, though it shouldn’t be nearly as expensive or hazardous as the runway was.

“The ramp’s going to have to get replaced too. It was in the same repair as the runway, course it’s not so bad a safety hazard as the runway would be when you have bulges and stuff in it. We haven’t had any real bulges in the parking area, but we’re probably going to have to replace that down the line.”

Burgess is excited to check off the next item on this project’s list.