A $1.57 million FAA award will move Riverside County closer to building an air traffic control tower at the Thermal airport, advancing a project local officials have pursued for years as traffic and investment have grown.
A long-running effort to bring air traffic control to Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport has received a significant federal boost, with the Federal Aviation Administration awarding nearly $1.574 million to advance design of a new control tower at the Riverside County-owned airport.
The award, announced Aug. 14 by U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla as part of nearly $109 million in FAA Airport Improvement Program grants for California airports, will support the design of what the federal government describes as a new sponsor-owned FAA contract tower and eligible equipment.
For Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport, the grant’s significance is considerably greater than its dollar amount might suggest.
It does not pay for construction of the entire tower. Instead, it moves a project that has spent years in planning, federal review, environmental analysis and site selection closer to becoming construction-ready, an important prerequisite for Riverside County as it seeks the much larger amount of funding ultimately needed to build and activate the facility.
Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, Fourth District
The project has been a priority for Riverside County Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, whose district includes the airport and much of the eastern Coachella Valley. Perez has been one of the tower’s most consistent advocates and has pressed for the county and federal government to advance the project as an investment in both aviation safety and the airport’s long-term importance to the region.
“This $1.5 million federal grant is another major step toward bringing a much-needed air traffic control tower to Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport,” said V. Manuel Perez. “We have worked for years to advance this project, and this funding will complete the funding needed for the tower’s design. I appreciate Senators Padilla and Schiff and our federal partners for recognizing the importance of this investment to the Coachella Valley. With design now fully funded, our focus turns to securing the construction funding needed to get this tower built and operational.”
The federal grant represents the latest and potentially one of the most consequential milestones in that effort.
Jacqueline Cochran was accepted into the FAA’s Federal Contract Tower Program in April 2022. Riverside County and the FAA then worked to identify an appropriate location for the tower, followed by environmental review and the engineering work needed to turn the concept into an actual facility.
In 2025, Riverside County completed a key portion of the environmental review and formally advanced the project. Earlier this year, the county took another major step by contracting with engineering and architecture firm Pond and Company to provide design, bidding support and construction administration services for new air traffic control towers at Jacqueline Cochran and French Valley airports.
Now federal money is beginning to follow.
A relatively small grant for a much bigger project
The FAA award is $1,573,899.
Among the 51 California airports included in the Aug. 14 announcement, Jacqueline Cochran received one of the larger individual awards.
For a general aviation airport in Thermal, the importance is not simply how many federal dollars were awarded. It is what those dollars allow Riverside County to do next.
The grant specifically supports design of the tower and eligible equipment. Design is an essential step toward producing the engineering plans, specifications, cost estimates and construction documents needed to eventually put the project out to bid and seek additional federal support.
Riverside County has previously estimated that construction of the tower could cost approximately $24 million, although the final figure will depend on completed design and future construction costs.
That means the latest grant should be viewed less as money to build the tower and more as federal investment that helps position the project to compete for the money that will.
GPS Business Insider reported in July 2025 that county officials were already pursuing funding for the tower and viewed the project as a major safety and infrastructure priority for the airport.
The new award turns part of that pursuit into actual federal funding.
Why Jacqueline Cochran needs a tower
Jacqueline Cochran operates today without an air traffic control tower.
At a non-towered airport, pilots use established procedures and radio communications to announce their positions and coordinate movements with other aircraft. Thousands of airports operate that way safely.
Riverside County has been careful not to suggest that Jacqueline Cochran is unsafe without a tower. The issue is that the airport has developed into a substantial aviation facility with a mix of aircraft and significant seasonal traffic. Venerable fixed base operator (FBO) Desert Jet, which handles the largest share of FBO and aircraft maintenance services for private aircraft using Cochran, and is in the process of a major expansion, is on board with the opportunity to enhance the airport’s operational capacity.
The Desert Jet Center at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport.
“Desert Jet appreciates the leadership of Riverside County and Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in pursuing this important project, and we’re pleased to see this funding move it forward,” said Jared Fox, Desert Jet CEO. “As a business aviation operator at KTRM, we believe a future tower will be an important investment in the safety, security, and coordination of airport operations. Having dedicated air traffic control will give pilots and operators greater visibility into what’s happening around the airport and improve communication and aircraft separation, especially as activity increases during peak season. That’s good for Desert Jet, but more importantly, it’s good for every operator, pilot, passenger, and business that depends on KTRM. We’ve heard this request from many in the aviation community, and we commend the Airport and County for listening and moving the project forward.”
According to Riverside County airport statistics, Jacqueline Cochran averaged about 150 aircraft operations per day from November 2022 through March 2023, with traffic dominated by transient and local general aviation.
Its aircraft mix ranges from small training aircraft to helicopters, turboprops and business jets. That variety matters because aircraft can travel at substantially different speeds and operate under different performance characteristics in the same airport environment.
A tower introduces professional air traffic controllers into that environment.
Instead of pilots coordinating primarily with one another, controllers can sequence arrivals and departures, issue instructions for movements on controlled portions of the airport, and maintain a more structured picture of aircraft operating in and around the field.
Riverside County’s environmental documentation says the purpose is to improve communication among aircraft and reduce the risk of accidents, runway incursions and other hazards.
The county’s airports director, Angela Jamison, made the distinction clear when the project was moving through environmental review last year, saying the airport was not unsafe but that a tower would improve aircraft separation and safety.
What will actually be built
The tower itself is expected to occupy a relatively small footprint on airport property east of Runway 17/35. County environmental documents describe a 448-square-foot air traffic control tower, along with a secure interior access road, parking for tower personnel, a backup generator, fencing and lighting.
Existing sewer, electricity, communications and water infrastructure would serve the facility. The county estimated an average of approximately three tower staff members daily.
Although physically modest, the facility would change a fundamental aspect of airport operations.
What an FAA contract tower means
The planned facility is described as a sponsor-owned FAA contract tower. In this case, the sponsor is Riverside County, which owns and operates the airport.
Under the FAA Federal Contract Tower Program, participating airports receive air traffic control services from certified controllers working through companies under contract with the federal government.
The FAA currently supports hundreds of contract towers nationwide and pays for air traffic services at participating facilities.
Airport sponsors generally remain responsible for the capital side of sponsor-owned towers, including construction and maintenance, although federal airport grants can cover eligible portions of those costs.
That makes the funding structure especially important for Riverside County.
Getting Jacqueline Cochran accepted into the Federal Contract Tower Program established the federal framework for providing air traffic control services. Securing capital grants is a separate challenge: getting the physical tower designed and built.
An airport whose role has grown
Jacqueline Cochran is a county-owned public-use airport in Thermal with two runways, including an 8,500-foot primary runway capable of accommodating substantial business aircraft. Its airport facilities support fixed-base operators, fuel sales, hangars, aircraft maintenance, charter activity, flight training, public safety aviation and private and corporate aircraft.
The county has also sought private investment around the airport and has explored opportunities to expand its aviation-related economic role.
Bob Marra is the CEO/Publisher of GPS Business Insider and GPS Market Intel. He has been studying, writing and giving presentations about business, economic and public affairs news and issues and the local economy in the Greater Palm Springs/Coachella Valley region for more than 20 years.
