Vision of Austin airport becomes reality

To look at bedraggled Bird’s Nest Airport three years ago and see a viable second airfield for Austin required considerable imagination. Telecommunications entrepreneur and private pilot Ron Henriksen, however, could see it, and he had the financial resources to support that vision, according to a recent story at TheStatesman.com, which notes that sometime around April, what is now called Austin Executive Airport will open with a new 6,000-foot runway and taxiway, a 22,000-square-foot terminal, hangars huge and small, and an array of other general aviation facilities. The story quotes Dave Fulton, director of the Texas Department of Transportation’s aviation division:

“I can’t overstate the importance of what (Henriksen has) done. Austin was one of the largest cities in the U.S. that did not have a close-in airport to serve the corporate community.”