The Vicksburg Municipal Airport has been selected by Gov. Haley Barbour to submit a full application to the Delta Regional Authority’s 2008 federal grant program, a move that would increase security and safety at the city-owned airport, said Marcia Weaver, a city employee who is preparing and submitting the grant for the city.

Barbour approved the local airport to receive $262,206, which will go toward the acquisition of 19 acres of additional property north of the airport’s runway. The city also will be able to pay to have trees removed, which would increase visibility and make it safer for pilots to fly into the municipal airport.

The airport also would use the federal funds to install security fencing around the western perimeter, Weaver said. The application is due July 21, and the city should know whether they will receive the funds by the fall, she added.

The DRA provides funding opportunities for residents of 240 counties and parishes in parts of eight states by partnering with federal agencies, state governments, local governments, nonprofit organizations, the business community and the public.

Growth at the municipal airport has been an ongoing effort of city and airport board officials. The city has reimbursed the board for groundwork begun earlier this year to construct new rental T-hangars, which will give the board additional income. The hangars also will provide individual spaces for 10 small planes.

The board also is awaiting a response on a state airport multi-modal grant they applied for in April through the Mississippi Department of Transportation. If the agency grants the requested $800,000, the board will purchase an automated weather observation system. The money also would go toward building a self-serve fuel farm, a Precision Approach Path Indicator and about $650,000 toward the hangars.

An additional grant from the Mississippi Development Authority is in the works to provide the airport with about $1 million to build a Vicksburg Fire Department and new terminal. Although a station exists at the site, about 100 yards from the terminal, the building is flood-prone and doesn’t provide room for an ambulance.

After a near death in the mid-1990s, Vicksburg Airport garnered new life when city officials committed to keeping it opened. The board-led airport, then, began lobbying for state and federal funds and received a $650,000 state grant that went toward runway repairs.