The Freeman Field Junction City Airport is a viable economic resource in the community.

Brad Waller, Benesch Inc., said that aviation brings a lot of revenue into the state.

“The economic impact of aviation was around $10 billion in 2010, now they’re projecting it to be statewide about $17 billion in 2017; the economic output for the community of Junction City and Geary County is about $12 million – and it’s probably up a little bit from a few years ago…it’s a vital economic engine for this community,” said Waller.

Although Junction City gets regular airport traffic from 15 different states, Waller said that expansion is not a primary concern at this point.

“The airport has one primary runway that’s paved – 3500 foot long – and two crosswind runways; we are confined in a space where we’ve got development all around and it’s really not a lot of room for growth, so we’ve really been focused on maintaining and improving what we have as opposed to expanding,” said Waller.

Waller provided an update on the Airport Master Plan to the City Commission at their last meeting.