Jefferson County Issues RFQ for Study on New Regional Airport to Support Business Growth
Date Posted: November 3, 2025
Posted In: Projects, Regionalism, Workforce,
Facing increased business-aviation demand and the redevelopment loss of the prior airfield, Jefferson County has launched a search for consultant services to identify and vet possible sites for a new general-aviation regional airport. The county’s RFQ positions the project as a forward-looking economic-development enabler tied to its industrial-growth trajectory.
On Oct. 22nd Jefferson County formally released Request for Qualifications (RFQ AIR-025-29099A-1) for airport site-selection study services, with responses due November 18, 2025. The study is the county’s first step toward procuring a regional general‐aviation airport (not scheduled for commercial airline operations) to meet growing corporate and industrial aviation needs.
While no site has been selected yet, the RFQ signals a strategic pivot: the prior local airfield—formerly the Festus Memorial Airport—was redeveloped into a 1.25-million-square-foot manufacturing campus for James Hardie Building Products, dubbed “Project Redbird,” prompting county leadership to invest in a replacement aviation facility.
The forthcoming site‐selection study will evaluate potential alignments around runway length/approach geometry, utility access, terrain and environmental constraints, airspace compatibility, road infrastructure, and funding pathways. County documents indicate potential funding via the Missouri Department of Transportation State Aviation Trust Fund, which would require alignment with federal and state aviation standards.
While early in the procurement phase, this initiative ties directly into Jefferson County’s broader workforce- and industrial-growth narrative: access to a modern GA airport appeals to site selectors and helps strengthen inclusive employment and apprenticeship pipelines in skilled-trades heavy infrastructure (runways, hangars, airside systems) and supports the region’s industrial ecosystem.
In his State of the County address in February, Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon referenced interest a new airport, along with a new courthouse and county jail. “Each of these items is very expensive and requires additional funding – funding the County does not have at this time,” Gannon said.
Following the announcement of the RFP The St. Louis Business Journal reported that Jefferson County Director Administration David Courtway, “We have a lot of business interest in seeing a smaller airport, possibly, if we could facilitate one here in the county. We are a growing county now, with well over 230,000 people, and businesses are growing. We’ve had people expressing an interest because of our location, and we’re having more business interest, obviously with the James Hardie project going in Crystal City, more corporate people wanting to fly in.”