Aviation View | Volume 1, Issue 2

93 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 it here,” he explains, “I hope to give it a more futuristic look just by catching up a little. An example of this is that the airport currently runs with a GCO Radio system. Pilots click a couple of times under frequency and it dials the phone for air traffic control. It’s a phone line, and it’s old technology. So, one of our main focuses at the moment is to upgrade that to a newer direct line that goes straight to air traffic control. It’s a good example of how the airport has outgrown some of the technology associated with it. I want to bring it up to a 21st-century standard.” 2021 is going to mark one of the biggest years INDI ANAPOL I S EXECUT I VE A I RPORT for construction that the airport has ever seen, which is being pushed by the drive to become modernized. First off is the runway expansion – a huge project involving significant federal and local investment. This year alone will see more than a quarter of a million dollars of local funds going to infrastructure. That includes upgrading the water lines for the new hangars and other developments which will change the whole north side of the airport over the next five years. They are also expanding the parking lot to increase capacity by 70 percent. In addition, there is asphalt repair work to be done on some of the hangar apron space. All in all, a lot of work, and a massive upgrade happening in short order. “Our terminal is only 15 years old,” Sachs reports, “so it is not that old, but we are outgrowing it. The apron is simply too small for the size of the jet we are now seeing. As we rehabilitate or demolish a large portion of the north side