The City of Albuquerque has completed a $3.2 million rehabilitation of the air traffic control tower at Double Eagle II Airport, refreshing infrastructure that has been in continuous service since 2006. The overhaul touched nearly every system inside the tower, from heating and cooling equipment to the radios pilots rely on to talk to controllers.
According to KOAT, the project replaced or modernized the tower's HVAC equipment, elevator controls, aircraft radio system, lighting, roofing, flooring, and generator controls. Crews also added a new restroom and installed non-reflective window treatments designed to improve conditions inside the tower and support safer aircraft operations, the station reports. The work was jointly funded by the Federal Aviation Administration and the City of Albuquerque, per the station's account, and city officials say the investment is meant to extend the life of the tower and improve the reliability of systems that support daily airport operations.
A Federal Grant Set the Project in Motion
The funding mechanism behind the rehab traces back to March 2024, when the Federal Aviation Administration awarded a $1 million Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant specifically earmarked for the Double Eagle II tower upgrade, part of a $20 million nationwide allocation spread across 20 small and regional airport towers in the Federal Contract Tower program. FAA airport grants in New Mexico typically cover up to 90 percent of eligible capital project costs for public-use general aviation airports, with the remainder coming from state or municipal funds, according to the New Mexico Department of Transportation Aviation Division. That cost-sharing structure is reflected in how the $3.2 million tower rehabilitation was co-funded by the FAA and the city, the agency notes.
Double Eagle II's tower functions as a Federal Contract Tower, meaning it is staffed by private contractor personnel under FAA oversight rather than by federal controllers directly, the FAA says. The tower manages Class D airspace daily between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time, overseeing an airfield that averages between 57,000 and 60,000 annual flight operations. That traffic includes flight instruction, military exercises, medevac air ambulances, corporate jets, and private aircraft, according to the agency.
West Mesa's Busiest General Aviation Hub
Activated in August 1983, Double Eagle II Airport is owned by the City of Albuquerque and sits on more than 4,200 acres at an elevation of 5,834 feet on the West Mesa, according to Albuquerque International Sunport. The airport sits about eight miles north of Interstate 40 at Nine Mile Hill and roughly 11 miles northwest of downtown, the Sunport notes. Its two converging runways include Runway 4-22, which stretches 7,398 feet and features a full Instrument Landing System, and Runway 17-35, which measures 5,983 feet; both are 100 feet wide with full-length parallel taxiways.
The field serves as the primary general aviation reliever facility for Albuquerque International Sunport, absorbing traffic that would otherwise crowd the city's main commercial airport. KOAT describes Double Eagle II as one of New Mexico's key general aviation facilities, serving aircraft operating throughout the Albuquerque area. The airport is also home to the annual Double Eagle Fly-In, which the station notes occurs every year in late September.
Tenants and Future Development on the Horizon
Double Eagle II already hosts Bode Aviation, which has run fixed-base operator services and a maintenance facility at the airport since 2002 and operates a federally certified pilot flight school and repair station on site, according to Bode Aviation. The airport is also in the midst of its first major hangar expansion in 25 years, after city officials and private developers broke ground in October 2024 on a multi-stage private aircraft hangar project aimed at meeting rising demand for corporate and private aircraft storage, per High Flying Hangars.
The tower rehab arrives alongside broader long-range planning for the facility. In July 2026, the city hosted a public open house and accepted community input through the end of that month to help shape a new 20-year Double Eagle II Airport Master Plan Update, evaluating land use and infrastructure needs across the airport's full footprint, the Sunport says. The city also maintains a 200-acre parcel adjacent to the airport, designated the Aerospace Technology Park for industrial, commercial, and freight logistics development, with initial utility extensions for the park designed and constructed back in 2008.
