PIB improvements to increase passenger safety, boost economic development

JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - There are several improvement projects that are taking place or have recently been completed at the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport and its business park.

The fire hall has just been renovated, and a new emergency operations center has been built. A federal Airport Improvement Grant paid for that work.

the airport has added more parking spaces and new lighting. Passenger Facility Charges funded this project.

At the Business Park, a grant from the Mississippi Development Authority is paying for road work and an upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant. It’s also funding work to level a 40-acre site at the park for future development.

A new private hangar is also being constructed. It’s part of a land-lease agreement with the airport authority.

Another facility at the airport was built under a similar agreement in 2021.

“A limited land lease is what it is,” said Tom Heanue, executive director of the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport. “They pay no rent on it for about 25 years, and then after 25 years, those hangars become the authority’s.”

The MDA grant totaled about $4.3 million. About $1.3 million of that was local matching funds.

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