Local airports preparing for extra aircraft traffic leading up to eclipse

While mid-Missourians have their eyes to the sky Monday, there will be plenty of pilots up there looking to land at local airports in the area.

The Columbia and Jefferson City airports are preparing for an influx of aircraft that are already requesting to land on Monday.

Columbia Regional Airport manager Mike Parks said the fixed-base operator has received requests for about 75 aircraft to land Monday but Parks said that is a tentative number for now.

Jefferson City manager Ron Craft said he didn’t have an exact number but there have been requests from all across the United States. He said they will be staffing extra personnel on Monday, just in case.

Both airports have a parking plan in place on the ramps for the planes. Parks said the ramp itself will be blocked apart for general aviation.

“They’ve determined where they’re going to park specific aircraft when they arrive,” he said. “It’ll be first come, first serve for all general aviation so when the ramp is full, we won’t accept aircraft anymore.”

Columbia Regional officials will be on hand to make sure there’s enough parking for customers actually flying out of the airport. The Jefferson City airport will have areas that the police have designated as no parking areas, but the rest is public parking.

Craft and Parks said the flight schedule will happen as normal and they will operate with just a bit more staff.

“We’ll operate out here when it gets dark just as we would over night hours,” Parks said.

For customers flying out of Columbia Regional, Parks recommends leaving early because the traffic on the highways could be very congested.