Charlotte County Airport Authority, which owns and operates Punta Gorda Airport, voted unanimously Thursday to ask the state to help fund a technical college’s building on its campus for aviation mechanics programs.
Charlotte Technical College’s aviation programs began operating out of a portable building and an old hangar at the airport in August 2021, but it was soon realized, amid swelling enrollment, that a larger permanent building for classrooms and a hangar on the same site were needed.
Charlotte Technical College is part of the Charlotte County Public Schools system.
The aviation program’s new facility will cost $8.1 million and will house the aviation airframe and aviation powerplant mechanics programs. The airport authority will be asking the state for $5.5 million to close the gap.
The airport authority revealed the design of the building and hangar at its regular meeting. “We’re at a 30% schematic design,” airport authority CEO James Parish said.
He said the 19,400-square-foot facility will have more than 10,000 square feet of hangar space and more than 9,000 square feet of classroom space.
Parish made a presentation at the school board’s workshop meeting Aug. 1 and suggested the district and airport authority enter into a memorandum of understanding, which airport authority board attorney Darol Carr recently drafted.
At the workshop meeting, Parish presented funding options demonstrating how the school district and technical college can meet the funding gap to construct the new facility, which will be on a 1-acre site.
Nationwide, there is a growing need for high-paying aircraft mechanics, the technical college director announced in the past.
Because the aviation program is outgrowing its present site, the decision was made shortly after the program began at the airport to begin planning for a larger facility in a more suitable location.
The new building will be on the north side of the airport near the new PGD Air Center on the General Aviation Ramp.
It currently is south of Allegiant Air, which is not the ideal location, airport spokesperson Kaley Miller pointed out.
The airport authority is strictly governed under Federal Aviation Administration guidelines on how much the authority can contribute to the facility. Already it has spent some $3 million for infrastructure, such as roads and parking and an aircraft ramp, Parish said.
In a statement, the airport authority said it “values the ongoing cooperative effort and relationship with the CCPS. CCAA’s board and staff want to facilitate and promote the CTC’s success as an FAA-certified airframe and powerplant school.”
