At the regular June meeting of The Henderson City Council, the local airport manager and board chair, Amanda Welsh and David Thomas respectively, presented economic impact information, answered questions and updated the council in advance of the final FY27 City Budget.

A loss of funding or lower funding would have its biggest impact on the airport’s ability to go after grants and larger funding sources because of required matching funds like percentage matches, according to Steve Welsh, who also spoke. He’s an instructor and father-in-law to Amanda Welsh.

As presently written, Henderson will provide just over $33,000 in the FY27 budget, and the airport receives appropriations from Oxford as well as Vance County and Granville County.

Thomas asked the council to consider the airport’s proposal and to continue to support it. His appearance follows a recent council budget work session discussion about savings to the budget by cutting funding to the Henderson-Oxford airport.

Amanda Welsh said, “Supporting the Henderson-Oxford Airport, supports this town of Henderson and those in it. End of story. Period.”

Thomas said, “One of the greatest values lies not in the planes based here today but in the business jobs, in the investments, it can attract over the next 5 to 10 to 20 years.”

He said in response to a question from Councilperson Kenia Gomez-Jimenez, “Henderson is the first name on the airport. And if the funding is not appropriated for the airport, then I lose my position as representative for the City of Henderson. By losing that, we lose the name of Henderson on the airport.”

Thomas said it could be viewed negatively by those looking to invest here, and “they look at that and say, well, ‘what happened to the name Henderson Oxford Airport? Henderson would not support the airport.’ So the industry, in my opinion, is going to look at it and say, ‘well, we don’t need to come to Henderson if they can’t support their own airport.’ … We’ve got one of the better airports around.”

Following a question from Mayor Pro Tem Tami Walker, Amanda Welsh said, “…if you just remember the return on investment, I know that it is tempting and necessary sometimes to look at budgets and say cut, cut, cut. You cutting could just be unfortunate for the City overall.”

Steve Welsh said a $1 million project really only costs the four contributors $100,000. He said, “So to the extent that you cut it back, the airport would obviously still exist, but the ability to go after some of those grants where it’s a 90-10 (percent split) or a 5-95 (percentage split) or an 80-20 or something like that, where somebody brings the 80 and we have to come up with a 20, we would not be able to make the updates as quick.”

(The story continues below this audio. Click Play for more information and the TownTalk broadcast.)

The Henderson City Council seemed to indicate it would like regular updates from the Henderson-Oxford Airport in addition to the airport’s annual report to the council and notification of any airport board meetings the council’s representative may attend.

Councilperson Sam Seifert said, “…it’s good for our community. It’s good for business. And it’s good for economic development. We may not see it right now, but it will pay dividends down the road. … What Henderson provides is really a nominal amount, but it demonstrates support of a resource here in town that you just can’t measure the impact it has now and what it could have in the future.”

Thomas said, “From 2022 to today’s date, we have done $12,326,000 worth of updates, repairs, and replacements in the airport.”

Also about the big money and upgrades, recall back to March when WIZS reported as follows:

The Henderson-Oxford Airport has gotten a $9.4 million infusion of local, state and federal funds to make some major upgrades and renovations to its facility, located just inside Granville County.

At its March 16 meeting, the Granville County Board of Commissioners OK’d $300,000 for a water infrastructure project that will bring municipal water to the airport.

Tack on $232,500 in state funds for a taxiway project and an earlier half a million dollars from the state for the water project and it all adds up to significant improvements to the airport, located 10 miles northwest of the City of Henderson and about five miles from Oxford.

Back in December 2025, the NCDOT Division of Aviation notified HNZ Chairman David Thomas, Henderson’s board appointee, that the airport had been approved for $8.8 million for the airport’s taxiway relocation project. Then in February, another $600,000 from the Golden LEAF Foundation came through for the water main extension project.

“We are very appreciative that the Division of Aviation has recognized HNZ’s contribution to the state aviation system and seen fit to partner with us on the funding the taxiway relocation,” Thomas stated. “The financial support from the federal, state, and Granville County government, as well as the Golden LEAF Foundation, will get a great deal of work done in improving our airport.”

Granville County Commissioner Rob Williford represents the district in which the airport is located. “We believe in the airport’s potential, and we believe in our county and in our region,” Williford said. “This investment in getting water to the airport isn’t just a water project; it’s an investment in the economic development of Granville County and the Kerr-Tar region.”

“Both of these projects are building blocks for us,” commented Jon Carver, the Authority’s vice-chair and the Granville County appointee to the Authority’s board. “This funding helps kick start a capital improvement program that includes a new FBO and a lot more hangar space for more diverse and larger aircraft.”

“The expansion potential at HNZ is exciting. We just needed this 12” line and now we have it. We’re ready to grow our business presence at HNZ,” said Carver.

Officially titled “the Aeronautics Authority of the City of Henderson, City of Oxford, County of Granville, and County of Vance”, the HNZ Authority was enabled by state legislation introduced in 1945. The Authority is a partnership between the City of Oxford, Granville County, the City of Henderson, and Vance County; each entity appoints a member to the HNZ authority board.

Construction began at the airport in 1966, and it became fully operational in 1971. By 1982, the original 3500′ runway had been extended to 5,002′ and lighting was added to the runway and taxiway. In 2014, the runway and taxiway were extended to 5501’x100′. In 2020, T-Hangar “A” was constructed.

HNZ handles more than 25,000 annual operations. HNZ and the woman- and family-owned fixed base operator offer aircraft hangar and tie-down rentals, fuel services, aircraft maintenance and safety support, corporate and business aviation operations, community engagement activities and youth aviation exposure. The private business, Empire Aviation Flight School, located at HNZ in 2009 and offers private pilot training (including ground school), discovery flights, and leisure flights.

For more information about HNZ, visit www.flyHNZ.com.