Airport Upgrades Take Off: Voyagers to Temporarily Close for Work
By Cassie Shaner, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
Oct. 4–Morgantown Municipal Airport is getting an interior makeover.
Morgantown City Council approved a $326,374 bid for renovation of the airport terminal at a meeting Tuesday, clearing the way for work to begin. Planned renovations include the creation of a corridor between the north and south terminal, expansion of Voyagers Restaurant and the development of a post-screening waiting area.
“This project will improve the TSA [Transportation Security Administration] security measures in the north terminal and also expand the size of the existing restaurant,” City Manager Dan Boroff said Tuesday. “It actually puts the physical footprint of the restaurant closer to the flights.”
The project was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration as part of the airport’s annual capital improvement plan.
“I think we’re really going to have a great facility,” Airport Director Bob Hammel said of the changes. “The purpose of it is simply to provide a more accessible way to get from one end of the terminal to the other.”
Pushing the restaurant back, along the windows facing the runway area, and creating a corridor along the front of the terminal will make the airport easier to navigate, Hammel said. Visitors to the airport must now go around the restaurant to get to the south end of the terminal.
An additional waiting area will allow departing travelers to pass through TSA screening prior to an airplane’s arrival at the airport. Currently, passengers are screened immediately before boarding their plane.
The renovations will also include upgrades to the terminal restrooms and new furniture for the waiting areas.
Voyagers is participating in the renovations, as well. Owners Elias and Aaron Hishmeh have contributed $20,000 to the project for kitchen renovations.
Aaron Hishmeh said that the new kitchen will extend into part of the waiting area in front of the restaurant. It will also be updated with better infrastructure and an improved layout.
Voyagers will also expand the dining room up to the windows in what is now the hallway around the back of the restaurant, Hishmeh said. Diners will be able to watch the planes land and take off.
Voyagers plans to be open through Saturday and will be closed for about four weeks, Hishmeh said.
“It will be a much better facility for us, and for the airport in future years,” Hishmeh said. “I applaud Mr. Boroff and the city on this. Not only from a personal standpoint, but from the standpoint from the city, I think they’ve made a good decision here.”
Hammel said the contractor approved by council — Lombardi Development Co., of Follansbee — is ready to begin renovations immediately.
“We were simply waiting on the contract approval,” he said. ” Lombardi is prepared to begin the construction as soon as possible.”
Rick Colebank, president of Alpha Associates, the project’s engineer, said the renovations should be completed by the end of the year.
Hammel said Morgantown City Council has been tremendously helpful in getting the renovation project done. About 5 percent of the project’s cost was supplied by local and state dollars.
About 95 percent of the funding was supplied by the federal government’s Essential Air Service program, which provides a $1 million subsidy to rural, community airports that achieve 10,000 annual enplanements (passengers). The money must be used for capital improvements that contribute to safety, security and efficiency.
The airport had 10,000 enplanements in 2006.
REPORTER ERIC BOWEN contributed to this report.
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