Mansfield City Council has approved a five-year economic development plan aimed at transforming Lahm Regional Airport, a nearly century-old facility sitting on 2,034 acres, into a hub for cargo, freight, private flights and delivery drones. The plan, called Cleared for Takeoff, comes as officials argue the airport has long been overlooked by investors and the broader community despite what they describe as significant development and tourism potential.
The 26-page plan was developed by the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development, as reported by News 5 Cleveland. City council member Aurelio Diaz said some residents have raised concerns that decisions about the airport's future are being made too abruptly, even as the broader vision moves forward. Mansfield city officials plan to meet with a community development group to review the plan further, and the document itself can be amended in the years ahead.
An Airport Built for Bigger Things
Owned by the City of Mansfield, Lahm Regional Airport features an FAA-controlled tower, long runways and expanded hangars, giving it physical capabilities that outpace its current level of activity. James Sheldon, manager for NIST Aviation, recommended industrial freight as a strong development option for the airport, noting that this kind of use would bring more beneficial employment than some alternatives. NIST Aviation currently supplies fuel and ground services and facilitates passenger transport at the airport, though the company does not itself supply pilots.
Fixed-base operators focused on corporate aviation have leased space at the airport for the last few years, and the facility already draws private jet and visiting-community traffic almost every day. An aviation school based at the airport is also expected to grow, and a new restaurant is coming to the property, according to the same report from News 5 Cleveland. The airport was especially busy during the 1970s and 1980s, when it served as a busy commercial hub, a level of activity officials hope the new plan can help revive in a different form.
Federal Dollars Already Flowing Into the Runway
The city's push to reposition Lahm Regional Airport is arriving alongside a major infrastructure investment already underway. Mansfield Lahm's main 9,001-foot runway, Runway 14/32, is undergoing an $8 million rehabilitation, with an FAA grant covering 95 percent of the cost and Kokosing Construction holding the $6.5 million main construction contract, according to Richland Source. The runway was last rehabilitated in 2005, and the airport's full footprint includes a 6,819-foot crosswind runway alongside the primary strip, giving it the rare capacity among general aviation facilities to land heavy aircraft such as a USAF C-5 Galaxy or an Antonov 124-100.
The city has also been laying groundwork on the ground itself. In December 2024, Mansfield awarded a $750,000 contract using American Rescue Plan Act funds to engineering firm EMH&T for a land-use and infrastructure design study covering territory north and west of the airport, intended to make more land shovel-ready for industrial growth. That effort builds on an existing economic base nearby: adjoining industrial parks already host more than 90 businesses employing roughly 6,000 workers, supported in the past by HUD Section 108 loans and state development grants, per the City of Mansfield.
A Military Tenant Reinventing Itself, Too
The airport's transformation isn't limited to its civilian side. Mansfield Lahm Air National Guard Base is home to the 179th Cyberspace Wing, which officially redesignated in September 2023 from an airlift wing flying C-130H aircraft into the first cyberspace wing in the U.S. Air National Guard, a shift detailed by the Air National Guard. In June, Col. Jack W. Johnson took command of the wing, the first time in its history that a cyber operator rather than a rated pilot has held top command, according to the U.S. Air Force.
Regulatory changes have followed the airport's evolving mission as well. In January, the FAA issued a final rule modifying Class D and Class E airspace around Mansfield Lahm following the scheduled decommissioning of the airport's VOR navigation system, a federal filing shows. Officials have also pointed to earlier private-sector interest as proof the strategy can work: in late 2023, economic development officials secured Hedstrom Ball, Bounce & Sport as a long-term tenant for a newly built 160,000-square-foot speculative industrial building adjacent to the airport, as reported by Ashland Source at the time.
A Legacy Dating Back Nearly a Century
Lahm Regional Airport opened in 1928 for $15,000 and underwent a $2 million federally funded expansion during World War II under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, culminating in a July 1946 dedication attended by more than 95,000 people. The airport was named for Brig. Gen. Frank B. Lahm, recognized as America's first military aviator. That history is part of why city officials describe the current plan as a rare chance to match the scale of the airport's past with a new economic identity built around cargo, freight and light manufacturing rather than the commercial passenger traffic it once carried.
