City of Corpus Christi

CORPUS CHRISTI (News Release) – On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, Mayor Paulette Guajardo and the Corpus Christi City Council approved a lease agreement between the Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft System Center of Excellence and Innovation (LSUASC) and the Corpus Christi International Airport (CCIA).

The agreement enables simultaneous operations of manned and unmanned aircraft at the airport and within its airspace. The FAA, LSUASC, and CCIA will continue to work together over the course of the lease to build and expand the program.

“We are the first airport of our size to have unmanned and manned aircraft flying side by side,” said Kevin Smith, Director of Aviation at CCIA. “We are thrilled to welcome the Lone Star UAS program to our campus, and we look forward to the work that we’ll do together.”

The LSUASC is one of seven Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) test sites in the United States and was established in the Fall of 2013 as a research center at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.