Lawrence Municipal Airport is pictured in this aerial photo from summer 2019.
The City of Lawrence has agreed to pay $1,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a longtime pilot who claimed the city hadn’t properly kept up some airport infrastructure, causing damage to an airplane.
Great Planes Inc., which operates an airplane hangar and offices at the airport on space leased from the city, filed the lawsuit in spring 2019 in Douglas County District Court. The lawsuit alleged that disrepair of the runway damaged one of the company’s airplanes in 2014 when a loose piece of the runway struck it, and that construction at the airport interfered with the company’s ability to access the runway. Great Planes claimed the city breached its contract with the company, and initially sought damages of about $19,000, plus interest and legal fees.