The DeKalb Municipal Airport is looking to continue its expansion and lure more businesses and aircraft owners into DeKalb.

The expansion at the airport, which is located on Pleasant Road more than one mile east of Peace Road, will involve constructing a heavy airport ramp, placing an asphalt overlay on the old runway (which has been converted into a taxiway, known as Taxiway B) and preparing several new sites for private parties to build new hangars. The construction is in addition to the new runway, named 9-27, which was completed in November.

The airport’s budget for the three projects is about $4.2 million, 90 percent of which comes from federal aid. The rest is routed from state (5 percent) and local (5 percent) government funds.

The first project, the heavy ramp construction, is scheduled to be done by September. The ramp would be able to hold larger aircraft, such as corporate jets.

The ramp will increase safety, because it will allow a plane to begin from one of the airport’s two taxiways (B and C) and transfer to one of the two runways (9-27 and 2-20), instead of circling around to take off on a runway.

Taxiway B, which hasn’t been renovated in many years and is starting to crack, will receive an asphalt overlay by September, said Taylor Airport manager Tom Cleveland.

The third project – building sites for six new hangers, four large and two small – should be complete by November. The airport already has received two separate letters of intent from private parties that promised to build a hangar when the sites are prepared and pay a land-lease fee to occupy those spaces.

This would leave four empty hangar sites for the airport to market. Cleveland said the airport should be able to lease the land relatively easily, because the land-lease fees would be much cheaper than similar sites in Chicago. The sites probably will go to fractional-ownership aircraft.

“They’re like a time-share,” Cleveland said.

When a group of people purchase part-ownership of a jet to use for personal affairs, the jet is often considered a fractional-ownership aircraft. A jet in DeKalb could be at any other airport in the tri-state region, within 15 to 30 minutes, and the land-lease fee is low, which would make the airport very attractive to potential clients.

In the future, Cleveland would like to see the airport expand runway 2-20 an additional 2,000 feet, making it 7,000 feet long. When this is done, aircraft will be able to take off carrying more passengers and more fuel, increasing profits. To further maximize profits, Cleveland also plans to increase the weight-bearing capacity up to 100,000 pounds by applying either an asphalt or concrete overlay.

The upgrade of runway 2-20 also could benefit NIU athletic teams. Under the plan, the teams would be able to fly to DeKalb directly and land 10 minutes away from campus, rather than landing in Rockford and driving back. The airport is hoping to acquire funding by winter, so it can start work on the expansion by next summer.