| Albert Lea Municipal Airport (IATA: AEL, ICAO: KAEL, FAA LID: AEL) is three miles (6 km) north of Albert Lea, in Freeborn County, Minnesota, United States.Albert Lea Municipal Airport was granted over $3 million through several federal funds to relocate the main runway in the early 2010's. The first funding announcement was followed by another announcement about a grant to rehabilitate the crosswind runway. Work began in 2011 and was completed within a year. The old runway, which parallels the new runway, was converted to serve as the new runway's taxiway. The cost of making the additions and redoing the old pieces of the airport runway totaled $9,500,000.00. This allowed the Albert Lea Municipal Airport to finally have a 5,000 foot runway.Later on, in July 2017, it was reported that the Albert Lea Municipal Airport was awarded more than $766,000 by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. This money was used for the construction of a 4,300 sq ft. airport arrival and departure building and parking lot. A month later, in August 2017, it was reported that the Albert Lea City Council unanimously authorized their last three funding agreements. It was noted that the U.S. Dept. of Transportation funded $766,00, the State funded $948,300.00, and the City of Albert Lea paid $436,500 for the project. The overall estimated cost of the project was around $2,150,000.00 which was noted as slightly higher than the bid from a previous year. The project was completed in the summer of 2018. |
