WARSAW – Lowering of power lines east of the Warsaw airport could begin in the spring of 2021, according to an update at the Tuesday, March 10, aviation board meeting.

Mary Kerstein, project manager for CHA Consulting, told the aviation board that she’s working to arrange a meeting in Fort Wayne with representatives of AEP, which owns the power lines.

The meeting is intended to work out a contract between the aviation board and AEP for the construction project. Kerstein said they hope to line up a meeting in the next few weeks and invited board members to attend.

Once the contract is in place, AEP can begin preparations for the construction process.

She said they anticipate starting construction in early spring of 2021.

The FAA is also looking into appropriate lighting on the future towers that hold the power lines.

In other items, Airport Manager Nick King said the airport is in the process of updating access to the terminal building so that pilots who arrive after hours would be able to use an access code if they need to use the bathroom.

King said fuel sales are way down so far this year, due to an overall drop in flights and poor weather conditions.

King said he recalls six flights that were diverted recently because of poor weather conditions. “If you figure 800 to 1,200 gallons per aircraft, that adds up pretty quick,” he said.

All of the flights that were diverted could have landed if the power lines were already lowered, thereby allowing aircraft to use more of the existing runway.

Board President Jay Rigdon said those circumstances involving poor weather are a “classic example of why we are going through all of this.”