Philadelphia Airport under construction

(WTOK)
Published: Nov. 1, 2016 at 3:16 PM CDT
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Philadelphia Municipal Airport is undergoing renovations. It's receiving a $900,000 upgrade.

"For a small town, we have a good airport," says Mayor James Young. "Now we will have that next piece that will make you feel like you somewhere when you land in Philadelphia."

The terminal was nearly 50 years old and it had renovations throughout the years.

"We did an upgrade on our runway around 2002," says Brent Gray, Chairman of Philadelphia Municipal Airport board. "We expanded it from 3800×50 to 5000×75 ft to accommodate traffic into the casino, as well as the industrial traffic here, for the companies located in Philadelphia."

With the airport seeing more and more traffic each year Mayor Young says it was time for an upgrade.

"It's one of the gateways to our community. We wanted them to step off and see something real nice and that building will be a first impression to our city."

The new terminal will be 2,800 sq. ft. It will have a conference room, lounge, waiting area and a briefing room for pilots.

"And it will also house the fixed base operator that takes care of the incoming aircraft," says Gray.

The project is in the beginning stages. There's no set timeline for when the new terminal will be completed.

Philadelphia Municipal Airport is one of twelve Mississippi airports to receive part of a $4 million grant from the Department of Transportation to upgrade facilities. The project is costing around $900,000 dollars with the city expending 9.1 percent coming out to about $80,000.