Airport Upgrades Nearly Finished: Expected to Be Completed By the Middle of January
By Cassie Shaner, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
Dec. 22–INFO about the Morgantown Municipal Airport, including news, flight schedules and services: morgantownairport.com.
Terminal renovations at the Morgantown Municipal Airport should be wrapped up by mid-January, officials said.
Airport Director Bob Hammel said the renovations — which 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 — are progressing nicely and should be completed by Jan. 18.
“That’s what we’re hoping,” Hammel said. “It’s looking very good up here.”
The additional waiting area will allow departing travelers to pass through Transportation Security Administration screening prior to an airplane’s arrival at the airport. Currently, passengers are screened immediately before boarding their plane.
Construction began in October, after Morgantown City Council approved a $326,374 bid for renovations from Lombardi Development Co., of Follansbee, and was initially slated for completion by the end of the year.
Hammel said Lombardi is still working on several internal projects. Once those are completed, furniture and flooring will be replaced.
All the upgrades will contribute to customer comfort, Hammel said.
“It makes it more customerfriendly and certainly expands our ability to have the community enjoy excellent cuisine,” Hammel said. “It shows we’re concerned about first impressions when people come into Morgantown.”
Rick Colebank, president of Alpha Associates, the project’s engineer, did not return a call to The Dominion Post this week for comment on the status of renovations.
Elias and Aaron Hishmeh, owners of Voyagers, have contributed $20,000 to the project for kitchen renovations. The new kitchen will extend into part of the waiting area in front of the restaurant. The restaurant also will get better infrastructure and an improved layout featuring an expanded dining room.
The restaurant has been closed since construction began and will reopen in late January or early February, Elias Hishmeh said. They’ll hold a re-opening celebration, though no date has been set.
“They’re still working on it,” Hishmeh said.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved the renovation project as part of the airport’s annual capital improvement plan.
About 5 percent of the project’s cost was supplied by local and state dollars, the rest 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 more than 10,000 enplanements in 2006. Because of a two-month disruption in service this year, Hammel has said the airport will not meet that threshold in 2007.
Hammel said Thursday that he expects to rebound in 2008, in part because of new service to Dulles International Airport, in Washington, D.C. Flights to and from Pittsburgh will end Jan. 20, and those to and from Washington will begin the next day.
“Think about going to Washington, D.C., for historical tours and family vacations,” Hammel said. “I think this is great for what we’ve got here in this community, from government agencies to educational institutions.”
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