Albert Lea Municipal Airport | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | City of Albert Lea | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Albert Lea, Minnesota | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,261 ft / 384 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 43°40′52″N 093°22′05″W / 43.68111°N 93.36806°W | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www.cityofalbertlea.org | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  AEL  AEL | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2020) | |||||||||||||||
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Albert Lea Municipal Airport (IATA: AEL, ICAO: KAEL, FAA LID: AEL) is three miles (6 km) north of Albert Lea, in Freeborn County, Minnesota, United States.[1]
Albert Lea Municipal Airport was granted over $3 million through several federal funds to relocate the main runway in the early 2010's.[2] The first funding announcement was followed by another announcement about a grant to rehabilitate the crosswind runway.[2] Work began in 2011 and was completed within a year.[2] The old runway, which parallels the new runway, was converted to serve as the new runway's taxiway.[2] The cost of making the additions and redoing the old pieces of the airport runway totaled $9,500,000.00. This allowed the Albert Lea Municipal Airport to finally have a 5,000 foot runway.[3]
Later on, in July 2017, it was reported that the Albert Lea Municipal Airport was awarded more than $766,000 by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.[4] This money was used for the construction of a 4,300 sq ft. airport arrival and departure building and parking lot.[4] A month later, in August 2017, it was reported that the Albert Lea City Council unanimously authorized their last three funding agreements.[5] It was noted that the U.S. Dept. of Transportation funded $766,00, the State funded $948,300.00, and the City of Albert Lea paid $436,500 for the project.[5] The overall estimated cost of the project was around $2,150,000.00 which was noted as slightly higher than the bid from a previous year. The project was completed in the summer of 2018.[5]