Airport Authority hopeful to build new Frosty Jones Airport Terminal

The Huntingburg Airport’s terminal building has been greeting pilots and passengers since the 1960s, and now, the Dubois County Airport Authority is preparing to build a new entryway to the county.

Engineering plans and renderings of the proposed Frosty Jones Terminal Building are available to view at the current airport terminal — a visit will likely enlighten you to the need for the update and expansion. The antiquated 1,200-square-foot building serves several functions for the airport, but the size and layout limit the feasibility of those uses.

On a given day, local students enrolled in the aviation courses offered through the Patoka Valley & Perry County Career & Technical Cooperative will interrupt pilots attempting to rest on decades-old high-back leather office chairs. Likewise, those same students and local instructors will be interrupted by visitors to the terminal, as well as the constant radio chatter between the airport and aircraft landing or launching as the Airport Manager, Travis McQueen, meets with any number of people in his office.

Regular meetings of the airport authority are also held in the main room that barely contains the five board members, its attorney and the airport manager, with anyone else in attendance.

The functionality is further hampered by its construction predating the Americans with Disabilities Act, and it hasn’t been brought up to those standards.

“It is a cumbersome location,” said McQueen. “It will be mighty handy to have a facility that is designed with input from customers — pilots, tenants and others that use the building — and advantageous to who it serves.”

The new 5,000-square-foot terminal’s design will provide room for the expanding services the airport is offering — at a recent meeting, a newly formed Civil Air Patrol group requested space to host students. And it will also create a proper welcome to Dubois County for visitors that are coming in by air rather than road.

While McQueen and his staff’s hospitality leave a lasting impression — see the image of a recent letter from a pilot having to make an emergency landing in Dubois County — an updated terminal will complete the package.

“It is our first impression,” McQueen explained. “And our last impression. When someone has flown in to do business, consider expanding their business, relocate their business to Dubois County, it is the front door, our entry to the community and the region.”

Along with the new image, the facility will have rooms and offices dedicated for the functions the current building is meeting in a single room. Pilots will have an area to rest, a space for classes, an office for the airport manager, and a place for passengers to hang out waiting for their flight or ride.

The terminal will bear the name of the Duff native credited with creating the airstrip. In 1939, Forrest “Frosty” Jones, aided by a donation from local business owner and Huntingburg Kiwanis Club, bought the strip of land that would later become the Huntingburg Regional Airport.

Early estimates for the new terminal put the price tag at about $6 million, with the Federal Aviation Administration covering about 87 percent of the cost, with the rest coming from local funds. This is contingent upon approval from the FAA, and the airport expects to hear that decision by the end of January.

McQueen noted that even if it doesn’t get approved this round, they plan on applying again.

“At the end of the day, we’ve been able to get by and use these 1960s-era facilities and equipment efficiently, but it is time to upgrade,” he said.

McQueen added he couldn’t wait to announce a local contractor has received the contract to build the Frosty Jones Airport Terminal.

The airport will also add 231 taxiway lights in 2023. These are a much-needed upgrade from the reflectors that have met pilots driving their aircraft to park in a hanger space or heading out for a takeoff in the dark. According to McQueen, many flights head out or land in the dark and Huntingburg Airport is one of the few airports its size that doesn’t have a lighted taxiway. At the cost of $600,000, the FAA is also picking up the majority of the cost of installing the lights.

Here is that letter from a thankful pilot.