Located three miles west of Morris, a town of about 5,000 in western Minnesota, the Morris Municipal Airport–Charlie Schmidt Field averages about 115 aircraft operations per week – primarily transient and local general aviation.
The Morris Municipal Airport opened in March 1942. Since then, airport operations have been mainly agricultural. However, the city has a rapidly growing industrial presence, which as greatly influenced operations over the past decade/
The airport features one 14/32 paved runway (4007 x 75 feet) and one 4/22 crosswind turf runway (2610 x 145 feet). Additional airport facilities include an arrival/departure building with a pilot lounge, conference area, and aviation weather center. The airport also has two T-hangars and heated multi-storage hangars.
Last spring, the Morris Airport won the first-ever Project of the Year award at the Minnesota Council of Airports Conference in the Business Development/Non-Aeronautical category for the construction of an 8,800 square-foot fixed-base operator hangar designed to accommodate the aircraft needs of Superior Industries. Headquartered in Morris, Superior Industries manufactures and supplies bulk material processing and handling systems. The company recently acquired several aircrafts, including a King Air 350.
“Superior Industries is growing in leaps and bounds,” says Morris city manager Blaine Hill. “To facilitate their business travel, and to bring their customers and employees here to Morris to look at their operations and to train, they needed improved airport resources.”
Hill says the City of Morris invested about $100,000 in the project, with the remaining costs covered by state and federal aviation funds. Superior Industries currently leases the hangar to help offset construction costs.
In addition to Superior Industries’ aircraft, the airport also houses a number of agricultural aerial spraying planes and several planes owned and flown by local flyers and flying clubs.
Hill says the main focus over the past five years has been expansion, which he hopes will continue. Construction will begin in 2016 on a $2.6 million project to construct a parallel taxiway. Airport officials also plan to conduct a study on potentially extending the paved runway by up to 1,000 feet. This runway extension could expand landing capabilities and possibly facilitate small corporate jets.
The city is also considering building another new hangar at the airport using private funds from local flyers. A new hangar would open up more storage and possibly allow for the hiring of a full-time mechanic at the airport.
Expanding airport operations and facilities is essential to meeting the needs of an increasingly mobile society and a growing local economy, Hill says.
“The unique thing about our airport is that the economic activity is growing. A lot of small communities out here on the prairie are fading away,” Hil says. “We are holding our own because of the local businesses that are using the airport.”
