ABOVE: Fairmont’s Municipal Airport, as seen from above. The airport sees a large number of operations annually.

FAIRMONT– Fairmont Municipal Airport sees a lot of coming and going. In fact, Airport Manager Lee Steinkamp said that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported that Fairmont’s airport sees about 10,000 operations in a year, which involves take-offs and landings.

Steinkamp has been airport manager for nearly 10 years. He’s the only full-time employee of the airport, which the city owns along with the equipment and the buildings on it.

While Fairmont’s is the only airport in Martin County, the nearby communities of Blue Earth, Jackson, Estherville and St. James all have airports. However Steinkamp said the nearest in comparable size to Fairmont’s can be found in Worthington or Albert Lea.

Steinkamp shared that Fairmont has had an airport since the 1920s and that it’s been at is current location, along Blue Earth Avenue, since the early 1950s.

“This building we’re in now was built in 1985,” he said.

At almost 40 years old, some features of the building are outdate, but like a jail or fire department, certain aspects of the building need to be kept up to code.

“There was an airline service from the late 1950s all the way to the 1990s. This was built to accommodate travelers more efficiently,” Steinkamp said of the current building, which still has a baggage terminal.

“A lot of the routes were heavily subsidized by the government and they said certain towns needed to have passenger service,” Steinkamp explained.

He also spoke about the Essential Air Service Program, which was put into place to guarantee that smaller communities served by certificated air carriers could maintain a minimal level of scheduled air service.

“The route that came through here went from Minneapolis, Mankato, Fairmont, Worthington, Sioux Falls and then back. They’d pick up one or two passengers here and a few in Worthington and then people could make connections in Sioux Falls or Minneapolis after that,” Steinkamp said.

Of course, much has changed in the last few decades with how people travel and thus the purpose of the airport now. Along with that, much is outdated that needs to be addressed.

Steinkamp said back in 2015 an infrastructure report identified a number of problems with the terminal’s HVAC and exterior, which are slowly being addressed.

“We did heating and air conditioning updates on this building. We replaced the sidewalk this past summer and made it ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant,” he said.

He said they’re also addressing some building maintenance issues and efficiencies, which has included updating all of the lights to LED.

About two years ago, the city of Fairmont also underwent a facility assessment and the airport was one of the buildings looked at. As part of the process, Wold Architect and Engineers presented updates to the city council, which could be done in phases.

Steinkamp said some of the work has been pushed back due to budget reasons.

“The building works the way it does now. It would be nice to have new carpet and paint and update everything but a lot of those dollars will need to be allocated to things like runway pavement maintenance and lighting maintenance,” he said.

He hopes to do more cosmetic updates within the next year but there are plans yet this fall to remove some trees on the property. Steinkamp said while it may not look like it, the trees are an obstruction that need to be addressed because the runway ends need to be clear.

Along with receiving money from the city, the airport also receives federal and state funds for maintenance.

“We’re in the process right now of doing an airport layout plan update. It’s a document and plan of our current facilities and what our plan is going into the future,” Steinkamp said.

He explained that the plan is required by the FAA and it’s recommended to update the plan every 10 to 15 years. Fairmont’s plan was done in 2010 and is thus being looked at right now. A consultant, KLJ Engineering, has done the plan and is working on the update as the firm specializes in aviation planning and construction.

He stressed that it’s nice to keep up the appearance of the facility because it’s a nice economic driver for not only Fairmont but the surrounding communities, but also because there are regulations they need to keep up with, such as runways, approaches and lighting.

One of the buildings on site houses several pieces of needed equipment to take care of snow removal and mowing.

“With the state money we get for maintenance and operations, we have to keep at least one runway open in the winter time. We need to plow it in a timely manner,” Steinkamp said.

They contract with an individual who uses the city-owned snow equipment, which stays at the airport, but is brought to the city show for maintenance when needed.

Out Steinkamp’s office window, the airport’s two runways are visible. The main one is a little over a mile long and the cross runway is 3,300 ft long. On either one a number of operations take place each day. Some are people flying for pleasure and some are for business.

“If you name the market sector of business, it’s probably been in here. There’s been banking, manufacturing, sales, ag, healthcare, the list goes on,” Steinkamp said.

Some local businesses, like Kahler Automation, keep planes at the airport and have some pilots on staff and can bring employees to airports and communities all over the midwest for business reasons.

“They can haul equipment and two or three people and get to a destination in two hours, where it would take eight hours to drive,” Steinkamp said.

People flying in can use the airport’s courtesy car to go into town, to a meeting or do whatever else they need to. The car dealerships in town will also allow use of rental cars.

There are currently 33 planes kept at the airport. There are 30 individual T hanger units, a bigger private hangar and a large box community hangar. Steinkamp said there’s just one open T hangar spot.

“Everybody flies pretty regularly,” he said.

Steinkamp acknowledged that the broader community likely only comes out to the airport once a year during the annual Lion Club Fly-In Breakfast, which brings in several hundred people, and he’s happy for the exposure of the airport.

“It’s a community asset, a business asset,” he said.

Along with events like that, he’s welcomed in Fairmont High School’s Principle of Flight class, which has come in to tour the airport.

“I like talking to classes and people about the airport and flying so anyone who wants to can come out,” Steinkamp said.