Doa Ana County jetport gets certified weather system

The Doña Ana County International Jetport is now equipped with a certified weather observation system, making it a possible landing option for flights that can’t land at the El Paso or Las Cruces airports.

The automatic weather observation system was commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday. Having the system means charter companies that require certified weather to land at an airport now can.

The operations manager at Francis Aviation says the new system, called the automatic weather observation system, will make it more convenient for pilots to land.

“The pilots will utilize the AWOS system to keep track of instant weather, immediate weather, instead of going to the old system where they would key the mic three times,” manager Tom Matthews said. “Sometimes it would be a recorded message, sometimes it wasn’t very accurate.”

Over 200 planes fly in and out of the airport every day. With the new system, it’s also anticipated more business will follow.

“There’s all sorts of businesses that people don’t realize that exist out here and then there’s the new hub out here, that may bring more business as transportation starts centering around here, warehousing companies come here,” Matthew said.

The system will also allow charter companies that require certified weather to land at the Jetport, that otherwise wouldn’t before.

The system was five years in the making and cost $256 thousand, which was appropriated by the state legislature.

The Associated Press contributed to this article