Jim Little received a surprise of the nice variety this weekend.

Little, manager of the Big Spring Airport, was named 2010 General Aviation Airport Manager of the Year by the Texas Department of Transportation Aviation Division during the Texas Aviation Conference this past weekend in the Woodlands.
The award is presented annually to the airport manager who excels in finding ways to improve, sustain, develop and enhance his airport's operations.

Little, who was named manager of the local airport in November 2002, was lauded for several accomplishments and improvements to the facility, most notably the resurfacing of the airport's main runway, during the past year.

Little, who was nominated for the award by Big Spring city officials, said almost everyone knew he was going to win the award — except himself.

"I was surprised and shocked," he said. "I was not even aware I had been nominated for the award. I was down there at the conference and didn't have a clue until the banquet, when they started talking about the winner, who was a retired Air Force colonel who had overseen several improvements to his airport, including a resurfaced runway. That's when I started putting two and two together."

It has been an eventful past 12 months for the airport. Aside from the major resurfacing project on runway 17, the smaller crosswind runway has been crack-sealed and the airport helped with several major events, including the biennial Webb Air Force Base reunion, the Young Eagles youth aviation program, the annual hang-gliding championships and other events.

And Little has even more designs for improvement in the future, including adding to the load strength of the taxiways — which would allow larger commercial aircraft to land locally — and improving the airport's refueling capabilities, which would also attract more customers.