Navy returns to Las Cruces

Cmdr. Jeff Hansen says the Navy’s been in discussions with the city for nearly a year.

He says they visited several other sites before settling on Las Cruces.

Hansen says two fatal crashes at or near the airport last year were cause for concern.

But the city’s commitment to safety had a big impact on their decision.

“That gave us some concern because of the volume of training we do here and the amount of fuel we utilize here so it gave us a little bit of cause for concern but the City Council and the mayor and the fix based operator manager have all been very accommodation with us and made every assurance that all of the issues had been taken care of,” Hansen said.

They expect to have about 200 students training at Las Cruces airport over the next two months.