The Hondo Municipal Airport’s rebound from dormancy accelerated on October 24 as a new terminal opened at the airstrip whose construction in 1942 temporarily transformed a small farming community into a bustling aviation hub.
“It looks like a real airport now,” David Fulton, director of the Texas Department of Transportation’s Aviation Division, told the crowd of about 100 at a ribbon-cutting for the building that resembles a country house.
The agency funded half of the $640,000 terminal, which is one of several upgrades of late at the airstrip that local leaders call key to future growth in the Medina County city of about 9,000.
A new rail spur was recently built to connect the airport site to Union Pacific tracks, a new city hangar was constructed and airplanes now fill up at a $220,000 fuel station that opened last year.
Also, last month, Air Evac Lifeteam of Missouri set up a helicopter ambulance base here, a venture that could add $1 .3 million to the tax base and 13 jobs to the workforce.
Keith Lutz of the Hondo Economic Development Corp. said the upgrades transformed a spacious but barren airstrip into a full-service destination with untold potential.
“Now we have the top two things that a private pilot needs upon arrival: a nice terminal building and fuel,” he said.
The 4,000-square-foot terminal, which replaces a modular building, includes restrooms, computerized weather data and enough offices to rent two.
”We finally got it done,” said Hondo Airport Board member Aniceto Colunga of the terminal that for decades was only the topic of idle chat. “It’s going to again put Hondo on the map as far as aviation is concerned.”
The city once enjoyed a prominent status in aviation circles, said Mayor Jim Danner, noting the town grew from 2,500 to 10,000 during World War II when the Hondo Army Air Field was home to the country’s largest school for navigators.
Although the 3,600-acre airport hosted pilot training after the base closed in 1946, the city’s population shrank and the site was underused for decades under city management.
But the ball was already rolling on revitalizing it, including plans for a 1,400-acre industrial park there, when Tim Fousse was hired two years ago to manage the airport.
But, as speaker after speaker made clear Friday, Fousse has played a critical role in_ advancing the multifaceted project.
Danner said the “theft” of Fousse from his former job leading Castroville’s airport “made all the difference.”
Beaming with pride, Fousse told the crowd that the way things are going, the building may have to be expanded soon.
Plans include resurfacing the main runway next year using a $7 million grant.
City Manager Robert Herrera said the city also is negotiating with Wright Flyers Aviation about opening an international flight school at the airstrip.
The city is also discussing opening a museum to reflect the airport’s rich history and help foster its future success.
”We’re going to become a premier logistical park,” Herrera said, calling the airport, “the port of entry to the future.”
