HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Mayor Jon Richardson is looking forward to the airport stakeholders meeting Tuesday at 5:3o p.m. to hopefully get a plan that can be acted upon soon.

"We've got a lot of information from this consultant that we worked with in regard to economic development at the airport," Richardson said. "It's important also, people that are already at the airport have ideas, too. We're looking for, what's the easiest, lowest hanging fruit? What's the least risk, most reward, least cost, most benefit type approach to developing the airport, at least starting out."

Whether to keep the airport's current footprint as is or try to do additional development of the land is one topic that the consultant mentioned in his report.

"There's two things," Richardson said. "One, what is currently being utilized to the best extent, but also, if we're going to differentiate ourselves from other airports in Kansas, do we need to keep some of these amenities for future growth, or can we see it as part of our plan for developing the airport?"

<a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/d4c15d98-d36f-4710-b9da-f9d0a2afa299">The airport needs a new control tower, but lost out in the most recent round of funding earlier this year</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682178530942.jpeg" alt="Hutchinson Airport" />
 <figcaption>Hutchinson Airport</figcaption>
 </figure>NICK GOSNELL Hutch PostHUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Mayor Jon Richardson is looking forward to the airport stakeholders meeting Tuesday at 5:3o p.m. to hopefully get a plan that can be acted upon soon."We've got a lot of information from this consultant that we worked with in regard to economic development at the airport," Richardson said. "It's important also, people that are already at the airport have ideas, too. We're looking for, what's the easiest, lowest hanging fruit? What's the least risk, most reward, least cost, most benefit type approach to developing the airport, at least starting out."Whether to keep the airport's current footprint as is or try to do additional development of the land is one topic that the consultant mentioned in his report."There's two things," Richardson said. "One, what is currently being utilized to the best extent, but also, if we're going to differentiate ourselves from other airports in Kansas, do we need to keep some of these amenities for future growth, or can we see it as part of our plan for developing the airport?"<a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/d4c15d98-d36f-4710-b9da-f9d0a2afa299">The airport needs a new control tower, but lost out in the most recent round of funding earlier this year</a>.

Airport stakeholders meeting Tuesday