Aviation View | Volume 2, Issue 3

27 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3 MEACHAM INTERNAT IONAL A I RPORT But there’s more. With the table set, utilities and infrastructure in place, the question becomes: what direction does the airport focus on? To this end, Meacham International is currently working on an update to the Airport Master Plan which will help guide future capital investment decisions required to meet the growing demands of the aviation community over the next five to ten years. Barth points out that this was done in consultation with tenants, customers, the city, and anyone who had a vested interest in the continued vitality of the airport. “We are doing this with Coffman & Associates as our consultant,” says Barth, “They have a strong background and long history of developing airport master plans and I’ve always aspired to work with them. They too are world-class.” The new terminal building at Meacham International is just over six years old. It is a LEED Silver Certified Building designed to consume less power and water, minimize temperature loss, and use materials with less environmental impact – as mandated by the US Green Building Council. The next major building opportunity for the airport will be the control tower. The FAA owns the current tower and is currently re-skinning it and doing some small improvements, but there will also be a site visit in November aimed at determining whether to replace the tower in the next few years. “We are very busy, and the FAA recognizes that,” says Barth. “There are a half dozen commercial airports in the State of Texas and Meacham remains one of the busiest airports for the whole state. We do not have commercial airlines, although their aircraft do land here occasionally for sports teams or other groups. However, the State and the FAA sees what is happening and works with us to ensure we position ourselves to meet current and future facility demands.” They also would like to promote aviation as much as possible at Meacham International. The flight schools handle a lot of that, but the airport administration itself also runs programs with