Northwest Arkansas National Airport

Amount Appropriated?

$7.0M

FFID tracks stages 1–2 — stages 3–5 vary by agency, assistance type, and earmark structure.

Project Description

This request would fund $7 million of the expected $12.5 million project cost to replace the existing air traffic control tower (ATCT) at Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA). Funding concerns and tight timelines in 1998 forced the Airport Authority to build and equip the current ATCT as a temporary facility. The existing ATCT has no fire control system, no fire rated walls, lacks ADA accessibility, and lacks adequate space for vital equipment. Currently, much of the FAA required equipment is kept in a CONEX at the base of the ATCT and the manager\u2019s office as well as the staff breakroom are in modular units near the base of the tower. More importantly, the current ATCT has a cab height of 47\u2019 which is inadequate to need due to the 2012 addition of Runway 17/35 which was built to provide an alternate landing area while the main runway (RW 16/34) was undergoing renovation and will ultimately serve as a parallel runway. Furthermore, a third runway is expected to be built east of the terminal building (other side of the building from the current runways). To be FAA-compliant and meet expected future needs the new ATCT will have a cab height of 124\u2019. For 2019, XNA ranked as the 99th busiest airport in the U.S. with 1,846,374 passengers arriving and departing from the airport. No federal or FAA funds were used to construct the current (and original) ATCT. The airport has not applied for funds for this project and they can obligate funds within 12 months of receiving the funds. The airport has committed to funding the remainder of the project with airport funds.