WKSU Stories

Kent State University Airport Expanding With New Classrooms and Simulators

Ideastream Public Media | By Kabir Bhatia

Published May 9, 2019 at 9:55 PM EDT

The expansion of the Kent State University airport will include new classrooms and simulators, and is slated to open this fall.

The Kent State University Airport will be expanding thanks to a $5 million grant announced today by the school’s Board of Trustees.

Construction is already underway on the new aeronautics academic center at the airport in Stow. The program has pilot training and an air traffic control laboratory. Enrollment has grown 55 percent since 2010.

Kent State Trustee Virginia Addicott is CEO of FedEx Custom Critical, which is making the donation on top of $1.5 million it gave in 2016 for the project.

“If you’d been out to the airport previously, unfortunately the students were going into trailer-like classrooms. Now, there’s going to be a really beautiful building that has not only a sitting area for students, certainly areas for visiting pilots, and some simulation as well.”

The new portion of the airport is slated to open this fall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPYqUyycRkw