CAPITAL REGION — Three Capital Region airports will receive a combined $3 million in state money for improvements, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Wednesday.
The Albany International Airport will get $1.4 million for a solar array. The Schenectady County Airport was awarded $1 million for a new hangar, and the Saratoga County Airport will get $719,000 toward construction of a new snow removal equipment shed, Cuomo’s office said.
The grants announced Wednesday were included in $23.6 million in infrastructure funding awarded to 31 airport projects statewide, as part of Cuomo’s Upstate Airport Economic Development and Revitalization competition.
“New York’s airports represent the front door to our local communities and are critical to facilitating tourism and business development,” Cuomo said. “A world-class airport is crucial to regional economic growth, and by investing in the modernization of our local airports, we are creating vibrant communities where people want to live, work and play.”
At Albany International Airport, the $1.4 million awarded for construction of a solar energy array is in addition to a $42 million terminal modernization project announced last year, and it comes amid a $50 million project to construct a new Northway exit leading to the airport. Initial construction on the latter project got underway this winter and is visible to Northway motorists near the Albany-Shaker Road overpass.
In Schenectady County, the $1 million grant will go toward construction of a new hangar for jets at the county airport in Glenville, which is a general aviation facility that doesn’t have commercial passenger service but sees significant corporate and private air traffic. The grant will fully fund the project, with no matching funds required from the county.
“This is the second phase of a long-range plan we have for airport improvements, and it is geared to attracting additional business customers to the airport,” said county spokesman Joe McQueen.
In Saratoga County, the county airport in Milton is also a general aviation facility that is used by private and corporate aircraft. The money will go toward a snow removal storage facility.
The grants announced Wednesday also include $576,000 for the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Warren County to buy new snow removal equipment.
Reach Daily Gazette reporter Stephen Williams at 518-395-3086, [email protected] or @gazettesteve on Twitter.
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