ADOT award cites community engagement, commitment to safety
Contributed Article/Courtesy ADOT
PHOENIX — Community engagement, a focus on safety and sustainability, and upgrading a system that provides weather conditions helped make Sedona Airport the state’s Airport of the Year for 2025.
The Arizona Department of Transportation’s Aeronautics Group noted General Manager Ed Rose’s efforts to keep the community informed about the airport’s value to safety and the area’s economy. This includes participating in community roundtable events, serving on the Sedona-Oak Creek Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and keeping the Airport Advisory Board apprised of developments.
Engagement with Sedona, Yavapai County, and the U.S. Forest Service helped add to the city’s plans to design and build a secondary access road to the airport, enhancing access and safety. An updated fire suppression water plan includes developing and testing a site to house a 250,000-gallon water tank to increase storage capacity. The airport engages with first responders on its emergency plan and offers police officers and firefighters training on responding to aircraft emergencies.
Sedona Airport has reduced its environmental footprint by offering jet fuel with 30% of its contents coming from sustainable non-fossil sources. It participated in an Arizona State University Energy Audit, which led to converting all hangar lighting to LED bulbs and replacing two propane furnaces with heat pumps.
Among other technology enhancements, Sedona Airport used grant funding administered by ADOT to replace its Automated Weather Observation System with the latest technologies for providing pilots with current airfield conditions.
This is the second time Sedona Airport has been named the state’s Airport of the Year. The first was in 1993. It is one of 67 airports across Arizona that are publicly owned and publicly operated. ADOT’s Aeronautics Group works to disperse grant funding to eligible capital improvement projects at state airports.
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