FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Fresno Yosemite International Airport is looking to the future, with plans that include runway upgrades, terminal improvements, additional parking, and attracting more airlines. <\/p>\n
However, airport leaders say turning those ambitions into reality will depend on continued local investment.<\/p>\n
New Aviation Director Mark Thorpe says his focus is building on the airport’s recent growth while improving the passenger experience and keeping Fresno competitive with other regional airports.<\/p>\n
“We have that attractiveness to offer this market, really for airlines to come in and have their own opportunity to grow and develop a market,” Thorpe said.<\/p>\n
A key part of that strategy is Measure C, the transportation sales tax that is set to expire next year unless voters approve an extension. The measure provides the airport with about $1 million each year, funding Thorpe says is essential because it allows projects to move forward more quickly.<\/p>\n
“Measure C is really important to us at the airport,” Thorpe said. “Typically, we’ve received about a million dollars a year from it. What it means when we have a funding source like that is we can build projects faster.”<\/p>\n
The local funding also helps the airport secure significantly more federal money. Many Federal Aviation Administration grants require a 10% local match, allowing the airport to leverage its annual Measure C funding into much larger investments.<\/p>\n
“A million dollars to us is $9 million in additional federal funds that we can essentially access because we have that million-dollar matching fund,” Thorpe said.<\/p>\n
Airport leaders are also working to expand air service by recruiting new airlines and adding more nonstop destinations. To encourage carriers to launch or expand service in Fresno, the airport offers incentives, including waiving landing fees for up to two years and covering hundreds of thousands of dollars in marketing and advertising costs.<\/p>\n
“The airline tells us who they want to do the marketing and advertising, and we pay that third party for a promotional period of the new service to support it,” Thorpe said.<\/p>\n
Beyond aviation, Thorpe envisions transforming airport-owned property into a larger airport district in partnership with the City of Fresno’s Economic Development Department.<\/p>\n
“We have real estate that we can develop,” Thorpe said. “Working with the city and the Economic Development Department, how do we create an airport district? That becomes revenue that, federally, we’re required to keep on the airport.”<\/p>\n
Airport officials say those future developments would generate new revenue, strengthen the local economy, and help ensure Fresno Yosemite International Airport continues to grow while serving the Central Valley for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 Fresno Yosemite International Airport is looking to the future, with plans that include runway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-412623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}