FRANKFORT, Ind.— The Frankfort/Clinton County Regional Airport has purchased 26 acres just east of its terminal building, laying the groundwork for new hangars, a larger ramp and — eventually — a runway extension that airport leaders say could bring larger aircraft and more business to Clinton County.
Nick Rasmussen, airport manager for Jet Access Aviation, which operates the airport under contract with the Frankfort/Clinton County Airport Authority, outlined the plans during a recent Frankfort Rotary Club program.
“The airport has purchased 26 acres that’s going to have hangars built on it to expand our ability to house more tenants,” Rasmussen said. “With that, as we have larger aircraft that come on board, we’ll eventually end up extending the runway, and that will grant us the ability to reach further destinations.”
New Hangars, Larger Ramp
The newly acquired property sits just south of Tenneco and just east of the terminal building. Development is expected to take a couple of years, with the current plan calling for a 10-unit T-hangar block plus one to two “block hangars” — each capable of housing anywhere from two medium-sized business jets to six smaller aircraft. The ramp area will be extended outward toward the east, expanding the airport’s usable ground movement space.
The airport currently houses 36 T-hangar tenants and another 11 or 12 in its community hangar — roughly 46 to 47 tenants in all. T-Hanger space is sold out and at 100% capacity.
Runway Grooving Slated for Next Year
Separate from the land expansion, the runway is slated for grooving next year — cutting grooves into the concrete and crack-sealing the surface to improve wet and winter braking.
“It’s like having a 500-foot extension put on the runway in terms of braking performance,” Rasmussen said. The 09-27 runway is currently 5,000 feet long by 75 feet wide and has a maximum takeoff wight capacity of roughly 60,000 lbs.
Runway braking action is graded by the Federal Aviation Administration, which affects the size and type of aircraft that can use the field. Rasmussen noted that a Boeing 737 could technically operate at Frankfort depending on how it is loaded, though nothing that large has ever landed there. To his knowledge, the largest aircraft to visit was a PBY Catalina flying boat that appeared at the airport’s 2023 community day event.
No timeline exists yet for the runway extension itself. The property expansion comes first.
“It makes more sense to have a place to store those larger aircraft, since we don’t, at least right now, natively have a need for them to be here,” Rasmussen said. “Once we have an ability to store those aircraft, then they’ll start coming here in larger numbers.”
De-icing capability is not yet available at the airport; Rasmussen said demand does not yet justify the investment.
More Than a Place to Land
Rasmussen told Rotarians the airport’s role reaches well beyond aviation. An IU Health air ambulance unit has been a full-time tenant since the winter of 2022, after being displaced from the Lafayette airport, with living quarters and offices inside its hangar and crews on hand around the clock. The Clinton County Sheriff’s Office and Frankfort Police Department use a runway for emergency vehicle operations training, IU Health has used the field for ambulance training, and the fire department is lined up to train on new apparatus for the new fire station.
The airport also hosts Skydive Indianapolis — which Rasmussen said is the only skydive operation at an Indiana airport, drawing jumpers from as far as Ohio — and hosted the WILO Radio Senior Fair this year after the event’s usual facility was closed for renovation. Corporate users include PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay plant across State Road 28, NHK and Covestro, while Purdue University and LIFT Academy flight training operations use the airport regularly.
Citing a 2024 FAA report, Rasmussen said civil aviation generates $1.8 trillion in U.S. economic activity and supports 9.4 million jobs.
“Epicenters of Growth”
“Airports really are epicenters of growth,” Rasmussen said. “Even though Frankfort is relatively small right now, it has the potential to really expand and explode, especially as the LEAP district comes in.”
Rasmussen closed the program by paying tribute to longtime Frankfort pilot Pat Richardson, who died this past week.
