APPLETON (NBC 26) — Governor Evers announced that the 2023-25 Biennial Budget signed on Wednesday will bring significant benefits to the growing Appleton Airport. Today, Evers announced state funding for the airport's terminal expansion project, which aims to enhance the airport's capacity to accommodate more aircraft and attract larger planes.
With a promise of $7 million in state funding for phase one of the expansion, Governor Evers expressed his commitment to supporting the growth of the Appleton Airport.
"This is transition money to make sure that they can start the work as soon as possible," said Governor Evers.
Phase one of the project is estimated to cost around $56 million and is expected to begin construction in the fall.
“Open today we have six and seven aircraft gates, this is going to take us out to 10 gates and really allow us to accommodate more aircraft [and] larger aircraft,” said Airport Director Abe Weber.
The ability to accommodate larger and more aircraft may help them maintain their title as the third largest airport in the state, above Green Bay.
"Passenger enplanements is really the metric that the FAA judges, and so when we moved above them [Green Bay] in passenger enplanements back in 2018, that's when we started to say that we are the third largest airport in the state," said Weber.
Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson described the expansion as a piece in a much larger economic puzzle, highlighting the positive impact it will have on the community.
"This is gonna be great for the community, and not just the airport and not just the county," said Nelson.
