Commissioners to decide Fabens Airport future

The Fabens airport isn’t the largest or most popular air field in our county, and County Commissioners may be looking to use it more.

“We will know next Monday for certain whether we might go with the vendor who might get the RFP to be our Fixed Base Operator,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar.

Thing is there was only one bid to be operator and it came from the same people who are running the Fabens airport now, something nearby residents said off-camera wasn’t being done very well, so the county is looking at the bid, but it’s not the only option.

“As we begin to expand the usage of the airport, not only through UTEP, but hopefully as it grows as more of an economic development driver, is it better for us to contract with someone for them to be our Fixed base Operator, or is it better to hire someone to be there full time,” Escobar said.

The future of the airport? UTEP is looking to use the field to train students, and they’re hoping to move in soon.

“We had committed to UTEP to have them move in April first. We had staff check with them to see if that is still a target date. Not only is it a target date, but they said if they can move in sooner they would love to move in sooner, so we’re gonna see how quickly we can advance this,” said Escobar.

The El Paso County Commissioners will be meeting Monday at 9:30 am.