The Port of South Whidbey plans to take another step toward buying and running an airport.

On Wednesday, port commissioners authorized a meeting between the Federal Aviation Administration and Port Commissioner Geoff Tapert, financial advisor Dane Anderson and airport consultant David Ketchum.

Ketchum, of Airside consulting and design firm in Greenbank, is the author of an airport study released in January.

He told commissioners that the FAA and the state might be willing to pay up to roughly 97 percent of the cost of acquiring and building an airport at the site of Whidbey Airpark on Crawford Road in Langley.

The 43-acre facility — essentially a 2,434-foot paved runway and two windsocks in the woods — is for sale at $1.2 million after a recent price reduction. Total project cost, not including access, would be roughly $5 million.