Because of the airport’s location next to Gethsemane Cemetery, the city of Detroit is unable to extend the primary runway safety zone to accommodate larger aircraft.ĭetroit City Airport (now “Coleman A. …the airport is expected to generate additional take-offs and landings, without the need for a runway expansion. The new plan will allow the city to make transformational investment in the airport, including new hangars, a new control tower, improved taxiways and safety zone, new airport-related development opportunities, as well as the return of the Benjamin Davis Aerospace Academy to the airport grounds. Of course Detroit already has a state-of-the-art airport.

The plan is to create “a state-of-the-art airport” according to Detroit officials. takes too long and costs too much.Īnd when we allocate ‘money for infrastructure’ we do stupid things with it, like giving $100 million to a zombie airport near Detroit that hasn’t had commercial service in 20 years. Everyone knows how bad a structure New York LaGuardia was before it got a refresh (though $10 billion later we didn’t get more capacity from the prettier spaces). There’s this idea of ‘infrastructure’ and it’s romantic and there are high-profile projects. Johnstown, Pennsylavia’s airport which averaged about a dozen passengers a day before the pandemic got $5 million.

Merrill Field in Alaska got nine years of expenses.

Devils Lake, North Dakota received 50 times what they spend in a year.

Detroit city airport executive hangar