Ritchie Helping Improve Oswego County Airport

State Senator Patty Ritchie is announcing she has secured $200,000 to help Oswego County make major upgrades to its airport and pave the way for new growth. Funding secured by Senator Ritchie will be used by the county to replace the airport’s on-site septic system with public wastewater services from the city of Fulton.

“After years of planning, the Oswego County Airport is moving forward with plans to improve its infrastructure and position the airport for future growth,” said Senator Ritchie.

“With this project, the airport will be better able to attract new customers, accommodate more planes and have the infrastructure in place to be able to allow for more businesses to come in. I look forward to seeing how this improvement helps not only the airport, but Oswego County as a whole.”

  By improving the airport’s infrastructure and eliminating the septic system, the county can use the extra space to build a new hangar that can house up to 10 airplanes at a time.  That would allow the county—which has 18 planes on a list waiting for space—to accommodate most of those planes. The county is also in the design phase of building a new terminal. In addition, as the county continues to grow the airport’s industrial park, public wastewater will allow more businesses to locate there.

“The future of our airport is extremely bright,” said Oswego County Board of Legislators Chairman James Weatherup. “We are working towards not only improving the basic infrastructure, but the overall experience for those who already use the airport and potential new users. We want to be the place businesses and recreational pilots choose and we want to thank Senator Ritchie for helping push us even closer to that goal.”

Senator Ritchie’s funding to support the Oswego County Airport continues her efforts to enhance airport service in the counties she represents. Last year she secured $700,000 for the Watertown International Airport to add a second travel carrier and a new motorized baggage handling system.  In addition, Senator Ritchie also secured nearly $70,000 for the Ogdensburg International Airport to improve marketing efforts to encourage more travelers—and especially Canadians—to utilize the airport’s low-cost flights to Florida.