Mayor Bill Mutz said, “This is a serious disappointment, and that’s about all we can say”.
The huge delay came about because the Federal Aviation Administration is asking the airport to use an instrument approach instead of visual approach, so in core of the problem, the city has to start working on a new one to resolve the noise issue.
On Monday, city commissioners will be asked to approve a $201,150 agreement with Hughes Aerospace Corp. of The Woodlands, Texas, to develop the instrument approach and procedures for noise abatement. The expenditure is already included in the airport budget, Conrad said.
“It would it have made more sense for them to tell us earlier don’t go this route, go that path. But that’s not what happened unfortunately,” Conrad told commissioners.