Reid Bell, Hill City Municipal Airport Manager :

"Without this bill, I'm not sure we'd even have the airport. Because like I said the runway was getting beyond repair. We probably would have overlayed it maybe one time, wouldn't have improved our traffic here, and probably community support would have fell off. So now we can handle bigger planes. Bigger planes means more opportunities for businesses to come in here. And it was getting to the point like just your basic air ambulance, King Air, Eagle Med, some insurance carriers wouldn't allow those types of aircraft to land on a runaway under five thousand feet."

Dr. Michael Babcock, Kansas State University Researcher:

"The conclusion of that study was that 60 percent of the 120 businesses said that access to a good airport was essential to their locational decision to pick the place that they did. About 65 percent of those businesses said that access to a good airport was essential to the profitability of their firm."

Ron Radcliffe, Hill City Mayor:

"We've got a number of businesses, like rural telephone, that have their own plane, that do a lot of flying in and out of here. I think it's been fantastic. It's great that KDOT was offering this type of deal. That we were able to receive that type of grant, and put a little bit of money in and get a wonderful runway. It's just been fantastic and I know it's going to help us a great, great deal."