The future of Enid Wood-ring Regional Airport is bright and will be vital for continued economic development, area leaders said Thursday at a reception hosted by the airport and Garfield County Development Alli-ance.
Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission Director Victor Bird told the group of business and government leaders Enid’s airport remains important for area business.
“Your airport is very important,” Bird said. “There’s no question that today the largest employers are conducting their transactions in the air.”
Bird said companies in Enid use the airport to conduct business in the area without having to utilize larger airports further away.
Bird said there are 49 regional airports in the state, 41 of which have jet capable runways, or runways with 5,000 or more feet. Those types of airports are what companies need to better conduct their business.
“Today, business does not come calling in a Greyhound Bus,” he said. “They come calling in a business jet.”
Companies need airports that offer access to their destination points, he said.
“A mile of highway gives you just that — a mile,” Bird said. “A mile of runway gives you the world.”
Airport Director Dan Ohnesorge, who’s been in his position since October, said improvements have been made to the airport, and plans to continue making Woodring better for businesses.
He said two things will draw pilots to the airport: quick turns and lower gas prices. He said prices are closely monitored to keep fuel prices competitive.
“If you’re going to buy 500 gallons of fuel we’re the cheapest in the area,” Ohnesorge said.
He said local businesses such as GEFCO, Dillards, Advance Foods and Farm Bureau Insurance regularly use the airport.
“There’s a lot of businesses that come here to meet their local folks,” Ohnesorge said.
Further projects are planned to make improvements and repairs, as well as maintain facilities the airport has in place, he said.
Alliance Executive Director Brent Kisling said Enid and Garfield County are committed to economic development, and airport improvements were one way of achieving further development.
“I guarantee you if you come back here in two or three years it will be better than it is now,” he said.
Kisling said he is working to coordinate current economic development efforts, working with entrepreneurs, working with existing businesses and selling Enid to future businesses.
“We’ve grown in spite of ourselves,” Kisling told the group, naming larger companies in the area and county.
He encouraged drawing from the knowledge of the many pilots in the area to further improve the airport.