Fort Worth Meacham International Airport is getting $92,500 from the Regional Transportation Council to install charging equipment for electric aircraft, including the vertical takeoff and landing craft often called air taxis, the Fort Worth Report reported Tuesday.
The money is one of four awards totaling $477,500. Denton Enterprise Airport and Granbury Regional Airport each received $92,500 for chargers, and Greenville Municipal Airport got $200,000 for its project, according to the report.
Roger Venables, the city's aviation director, told the Report the chargers will go in an operational area at Meacham where compatible electric aircraft, both vertical-takeoff models and those that use a conventional runway, can recharge between flights to other airports in the North Texas advanced air mobility network. He said there is no schedule yet for electric air taxi flights at Meacham.
Ernest Huffman, who manages aviation planning at the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said the goal is to have airports ready as the aircraft become available and operations grow. "This investment is about building out that regional network now," he said.
The chargers are meant to support the Federal Aviation Administration's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, in which Texas was among the first locations chosen to set up a regional hub. In September, the Texas Department of Transportation launched Project Nexus at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport.
