Episode 13: More Than a Runway: The Airport's Role in the Community with Emily Herron

Drive by almost any general aviation airport in America and, from the outside, you may not see much more than a runway, some hangars, a fence, and a few airplanes on the ramp.

But there is a lot more happening inside that fence.

Local airports support businesses, jobs, flight training, maintenance, charter operations, and companies that depend on general aviation to move people where they need to go. And sometimes one of the biggest challenges an airport faces isn't what happens on the runway, it's helping the surrounding community understand why the airport matters.

In Episode 13 of the Turning Base Podcast, Brandon Redeker sits down with Emily Herron, Airport Manager of Henderson City-County Airport (EHR) in Henderson, Kentucky.

Emily is also a third-generation pilot with a pretty incredible connection to aviation history. She still flies the same 1946 Piper Cub her grandfather bought for $725 in 1949, an airplane that has now been in her family for 77 years.

One of the biggest themes of our conversation was that a successful airport doesn't operate on its own. The airport, FBO, maintenance shops, flight school, charter operators, tenants, and other businesses on the field all depend on one another.

Emily described it simply: they're on the same team, even when they don't work for the same organization.

Airport management keeps the infrastructure working, runways, lighting, pavement, approaches, and everything else necessary to operate safely. The businesses on the field take care of the pilots, passengers, aircraft, and customers who use that infrastructure every day.

Those relationships won't always be perfect, and everyone won't always agree. But when the airport and its businesses communicate and understand how their decisions affect one another, the entire airport is in a better position to grow.

Sometimes being on the same team means having some pretty difficult conversations.

Henderson recently completed a $14 million runway reconstruction and extension project that required the airport to close for nearly six months. While the project was necessary for the airport's future, closing a runway for that long has very real consequences for the businesses and tenants that depend on it.

Emily talked about the importance of recognizing those consequences instead of looking at the project only from the airport's perspective. That meant communicating with tenants, talking through temporary relocation, rent abatement, and what could be done to help businesses make it through the closure.

The project ultimately gave Henderson a newly reconstructed and extended 7,100-foot runway, which Emily proudly points out is the longest general aviation runway in Kentucky, along with new lighting and newly published GPS approaches.

One of Emily's passions is helping people outside aviation understand that their local airport is for more than what she jokingly described as “rich guys and their private airplanes.” Those airplanes may be bringing business leaders, jobs, investment, and economic activity into the community.
But telling that story can be difficult when most people only see the airport from the other side of a fence.

That's why Emily spends time speaking with local civic organizations and bringing people onto the airport through community events. Aviation days, fly-ins, and smaller events give families and kids a chance to walk through the gates, get close to an airplane, meet the people who work there, and see what actually happens at their local airport.

As Emily explained, most kids don't grow up spending their weekends at a general aviation airport. Simply giving them a chance to come inside the fence can take away some of the mystery and help aviation feel a little more accessible.

And sometimes that's where the next pilot, mechanic, airport manager, or aviation professional gets their first look at an industry they never knew was open to them.

Emily Herron C.M. is the Airport Manager of Henderson City-County Airport in Henderson Kentucky, Echo Hotel Romeo. Emily is a 3rd generation pilot and Piper Cub owner. 

Henderson City-County Airport
​Don Davis Aviation

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