In the coming years, Murfreesboro Municipal Airport will be seeing $12 million in capital improvements. Currently, the runways are shut down for maintenance, there is work being done to enhance hangar capacity, and plans are being made for more changes as Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) slowly, over the next several years, begins to move their base of operations for their Aerospace Program to Shelbyville.
“All airports are packed,” explained Chad Gehrke, Director of Murfreesboro Municipal Airport. “There is a shortage of skilled workers in the aerospace industry. MTSU will eventually be moving to new facilities because they are out of space to expand their program to fill demand…There were 300 students in the Department of Aerospace when I started in 1994, now there are 1,000.”
While the airline industry suffered during COVID-19, it has come back with a vengeance and airlines have not been able to refill jobs fast enough. As with other industries, many older pilots chose to retire when the pandemic hit, and there are not enough new pilots in the pipeline to fill vacant positions, as there has been a growing shortage of pilots and other skilled positions in the field over the last ten years.
As MTSU makes plans over the next three to five years to move their program, Murfreesboro Municipal Airport is making plans of their own to increase services to private jets serving individuals and the growing number of companies moving to the area.
Besides fixing the runways and enhancing hangar space, the airport will also be editing their fuel truck entry as they increase fuel tank capacity to service the increasing number of planes using the facility.
With the completion of the new terminal facilities a few years ago, additional esthetic enhancements are taking place. Recently, the Experience Church provided a stainless-steel sculpture by Joe Brown that sits in the island that is part of the turnaround at the front of the building. The sculpture is inspired by a compass that pilots use and carries the words purpose, preparation, destination and direction.
“The airport is becoming the first impression for companies coming into Murfreesboro,” said Gherke.
New facilities have also drawn in the community. There is now space for meetings and events. Space has been used by the Chamber of Commerce, executives with various businesses who fly in for the meeting and then leave, and members of the community for many different types of celebrations.
Murfreesboro Municipal Airport began as part of a flight training facility for the United States Army Air Corps in the 1940s run by what was then Middle Tennessee State College, it was moved to its current location in 1952, with the terminal located in an old house. The City of Murfreesboro took over operation of the facility in 1994, when they hired Gehrke.
Gehrke made the old house work for many years with a few additions, but the new terminal was much needed because of the area’s growth, and now Gehrke is working with his staff to update standard operating procedures and technology. One of those changes was from a radar-based landing system to a satellite-based one.
“I am receiving a lot more data from this new system,” Gehrke said. “I now know things like who visits and how many airplanes are overhead at one time.”
This new information will be helpful in providing information for initial studies into the possibility of the airport adding a Federal Contract Tower. Currently, there is no tower and pilots know when to land and take off by speaking to each other.
“[The tower] is in the very preliminary stages,” added Gehrke, “initial studies if you will. We are scheduling meetings with our stakeholders to share initial study results before we pursue this further. Such a project takes years, and there is a budgetary element to this that the city would have to plan out over a three-to-five-year period. But, if we get some favorable responses from our stakeholders, you may hear more about this in the coming months.”
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