Henderson City County Airport

Henderson City County Airport, a local government entity and airport authority serving Henderson, Kentucky, receives federal infrastructure and operational grants exclusively from the Federal Aviation Administration under the Airport Improvement Program (CFDA 20.106) and related pandemic-relief authorities, acting as a prime grant recipient with no contracted federal work or subcontractor relationships.

Henderson operates as a publicly owned airport authority without SBA designations or set-aside certifications. The vendor's federal award footprint spans twenty-seven grants totaling $26.2 million in combined obligation across roughly two decades, with all funding flowing from two variants of the FAA: the Southern Region office and the parent Federal Aviation Administration entity. The Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration accounts for a single award; the FAA dominates the portfolio at one hundred percent of recent work.

The airport's grant portfolio centers on runway and taxiway infrastructure modernization, lighting and visual guidance system upgrades, and terminal building maintenance. Recent representative work includes a $12.05 million project grant awarded May 16, 2025, to extend Runway 9/27 by 1,604 feet and Taxiway A by 1,604 feet (completion May 15, 2029); a $473,684 project grant awarded July 18, 2025, for runway lighting installation, taxiway reconstruction of 1,747 feet, runway reconstruction of 5,503 feet, and visual guidance system upgrades (completion July 17, 2029); a $2.36 million grant awarded September 3, 2021, to fund land acquisition, environmental assessment, and design work for a longer runway extension (completion September 2, 2025); and a $231,566 grant awarded December 21, 2022, for terminal building roof rehabilitation (completion December 20, 2026). The airport also received pandemic-relief grants under the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan Act for operational and personnel costs, awarded July 30, 2021, and August 21, 2021, respectively.

Activity remained flat at two to three grants per year from 2021 through 2026, with no multi-year growth trajectory. The most recent award, a $157,894 project grant issued June 25, 2026, funds a master plan update (completion June 24, 2030). Henderson receives no federal contracts, sits on no contract vehicles, and operates exclusively in the grant-recipient role under FAA airport infrastructure programs.