MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Regional Airport thrives as a hub for local businesses and regional pilots. Its economic impact also supports community growth.
The airport is Level 2, which means it has at least one jet based there, a certain number of fixed tenants, and year-round operations.
“It’s really good to be in that mix of 18 Level 2 airports,” Board member Joe Ziegman said during a November visit to the Knox County commissioners.
“We have a gem out in the country just south of town.”
Ziegman said more than half of the top 25 companies in the county or their suppliers regularly use the airport.
“That’s very significant,” he said. “Also, with things like over $200,000 in wages, property taxes, fuel taxes — all of those contribute to the local and state coffers.”
Just over one third of the 65 daily operations are transient use. An operation is a takeoff or landing.
Many major universities and flight programs use the airport as part of their cross-country training.
“We feel that we have grown as the region has grown, and we’re going to continue to grow. Obviously, we’d like to make it a controlled growth and not overgrowth. But we want to be prepared as well.” – joe ziegman, knox county regional airport board member
“It’s a really good airport for very early pilots to practice a lot of touch-and-gos in uncontrolled airspace outside of the Columbus area or outside of the bigger cities where they come from,” Ziegman explained.
Other users include utility companies conducting inspections and maintenance, the military, and medical flights.
“A significant amount of area college and university families use the airport,” Ziegman said. “Sometimes pilots pick it because we have better fuel prices or they need a break and want to refill their aircraft.”
Fuel sales drive revenue
Fuel sales are the biggest revenue generator. The airport sold nearly 2 million gallons of fuel over the last 20 years.
“That’s significant money going to the fuel taxes,” Ziegman said.
The board renegotiated its fuel contracts two years ago and obtained a lower rate. Additionally, it reviews regional costs to remain competitive.
Knox County Regional Airport
•Hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends, on call for after hours
•Employees: 1 manager, 1 full-time, 3 part-time employees.
•Responsibilities: Flight safety, emergency management, customer service, refueling, debris removal (snow, ice, or any other foreign objects off the runways and taxiways), maintenance, wildlife management, and administrative.
•Services: fuel sales, conference room, catering, free crew car, flight instructors, student briefing room.
The airport features private businesses that provide on-site agricultural, painting, and maintenance services.
The student briefing rooms double as a private lounge for those attending to business or car rental companies providing executive transportation.
Another amenity the airport offers is free crew cars.
“Crews sometimes have to sit around the terminal building for a long time, so it gives them a chance to come and get a bite to eat. If they have friends or family nearby, they can also go there,” Ziegman said.
The need for hangar space
There are 84 aircraft on site with 30-plus waiting for hangar space. The waiting list has remained steady since Ziegman joined the board in 2021.
“If folks go away and find other alternatives, they get replaced. So there’s a heavy need for hangar space,” he said.
However, according to Ziegman, the hardest thing to do is to “grow to where we can build hangars.”
“That’s the toughest thing to get to because the FAA has some stipulations on that. You have to make sure your groundwork, all of your tarmac, all your runways, your taxiways, your aprons, your ramps, everything on the ground is in perfect condition before any subsidy could be used for such a revenue-generating,” he said.
“We won’t build them completely out of pocket. It just won’t happen. It’s not feasible to do so.”
A hangar cannot generate enough revenue from rentals to cover its costs and is cost-prohibitive in today’s crazy supply chain and high-labor environment.
“It’s not a business venture in and of itself to put up hangers and expect to make a decent amount,” Ziegman said. “It takes years to break even. But the benefit is great to the local community.”
Ziegman said that having a maintenance hangar in the future would create two or three jobs and “bring a ton more to the airport for maintenance services.”
Current mechanics can perform some maintenance. Otherwise, pilots ask someone to fly in for repairs or fly their plane elsewhere for service.
“It’s tough because there’s a shortage around the country of AMP mechanics, airframe and powerplant mechanics,” Ziegman said.
The board is exploring solutions to the mechanics shortage, such as sponsoring individuals interested in attending technical school.
Current and future projects
The airport board broke ground in October 2024 on a $1.5 million aviation education center that includes a hangar and classrooms.
Two state capital improvement grants ($900,000 and $150,000) and a $60,000 Knox County Foundation grant supplemented local funding.
Knox County Regional Airport Capital Investments
•$6 million since 2017
•$2 million in progress
•$2 million 2026-2027
•$5-$10 million 2028-2035
Ziegman estimates crews will complete construction this month or in January 2026.
The board just finished an AWOAS (aviation weather reporting system) replacement. It is in contract for new high-intensity runway lights, which is uncommon for community, county, or regional airports that are not commercial-service operations.
“But, we have enough jet traffic here. .. It’ll be a very big safety improvement. In low visibility times, it’s very good to have those,” he said.
“That’ll be very safe for our pilots coming in and the transient jets that come.”
An improvement priority is a shed in which to store snow equipment. Ziegman said the FAA will fund a portion of it, but not enough for the size needed to house the airport’s equipment.
“We’re still looking at options of a maintenance building for those versus just an equipment storage shed and where we land on the funding and how does it work, but we’ll be happy to at the very minimum get it under roof,” Ziegman said.
Potential for growth
Ziegman said the potential for growth is on the north side of the airport, although it entails drainage and site prep to make it usable.
Southern expansion is not feasible because the runway and fence are too close to the property line. However, he noted that if people want to sell on Miller Road, the board would at least investigate.
The next projects are slated for 2030-31. They include a taxiway parallel to the existing one and drainage and building site improvements to support growth.
Ziegman said runways have a life expectancy of 15 to 20 years. The board upgraded the existing 5,500-foot runway five years ago.
Additionally, it is a grooved runway, which dries within minutes and eliminates water pooling.