MESSAGE
from
CENTRAL REGION AIRPORTS DIVISION
We’re happy to report that, with your help, we were able once again to meet or exceed every one of our goals for Fiscal Year 2007! You’ll find the 2007 details along with our goals and targets for 2008 in this Annual Report.
AIP funding is always a subject of intense interest to you and, naturally, to us as well. So, for the record, we issued 184 grants for a total of $174 M in 2007. Now, given the fact that our authorizing legislation expired last September 30th, we’ve all been waiting for the other shoe to drop. As we went to press with this report, the President signed legislation providing for a nine-month extension of the AIP authorization including continuation of the taxes which feed the Aviation Trust Fund. Suffice it to say, our planners and engineers will be working with you to make it as workable and effective as possible for you and us. And, of course, for the airport system in Central Region of which we are justly proud. I hesitate to speculate about what will happen when the extension expires on June 30th. As I said last year, stay tuned since a lot can happen between now and then.
In the meantime, I urge you to continue building on the very productive relationships that you and members of this division have established over the years. Our 25th Annual Airports Conference at a new and exciting location here in Kansas City is scheduled for the third week of September, so make sure that you attend!
A Personal Note
Not included in my message above is reference to something humbling yet gratifying when I was honored this past year by the Kansas City Federal Executive Board with the “Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award.” Faced with the prospect of attempting to live up to that, I recently announced my plan to retire on May 2, after twenty years as the division manager. I have genuine mixed feelings about this because I’ve enjoyed every one of my many assignments in our Washington headquarters and in three of our regional headquarters offices during my 42+ years with the FAA. Responsible for that are the rich relationships that I have had over the years with so many of you and with the consummate professionals who make up our staff here in Kansas City. As I often say proudly, this division could easily run on “auto-pilot.” Our managers and supervisors provide all of the necessary professional guidance and, even more important, they have helped me enable our people to take ownership and professional responsibility for their jobs. In effect, our people manage themselves and, as a result, you, our customers, have learned to value their credibility and to view them as experts who truly represent the FAA. In all of this, I have been truly blessed. I will miss most of all the warm collegiality we have enjoyed over the years.
For Central Region’s Airports Division,
George A. Hendon
