Increased Use Leads to Push for Quicker Expansion

By JEFF HAMPTON

By Jeff Hampton

The Virginian-Pilot

MAPLE

Expansion plans at the Currituck Regional Airport could be sped up as demand has rapidly outpaced growth.

Since 2002, the county began selling jet fuel, extended the runway to 5,500 feet, built a terminal and hired a full-time manager, among other improvements.

Aircraft fuel sales also jumped from 27,419 gallons in 2002 to 75,248 gallons in 2006, earning the county more than $35,000 last year, according to county records.

A 20-year expansion plan from 1999 predicted 23,450 operations a year in 2009 and called for $14.8 million in improvements by 2019. Operations are already at 25,000 a year, airport manager Wayne Leary said. A plane taking off and landing is counted as two operations.

“This is a case of build it, and they will come,” Jim Winebarger, a member of the Currituck County airport board, said Friday. “If we’re growing faster than the plan anticipates, then we need to move faster.”

Representing the board, Winebarger spoke to commissioners about speeding up expansion in a budget workshop Monday. Corporate aircraft are the most sought after, he said.

The county is planning an industrial park near the runway with lots set aside for aviation-related businesses. That industry would provide highly skilled, well-paying jobs, county officials have said.

“The airport is a key element to economic development,” the chairman of the Board of Commissioners, Barry Nelms, said Friday. “Outer Banks traffic is soliciting more service close to the beach. We’re looking at moving some things around to see if we can get things done sooner.”

Plans are in the works for upgrades, including security fencing, hangars and more taxiways, costing $4.9 million by 2009, according to a project expense account provided by Leary.

The county would have to pay $900,000 of that. Grants would provide the rest.

“Money is not the issue,” Winebarger said. “Time is the issue.”

Supporters of expansion have said for years that the more money put into the facility, the more economic growth will come, said local businessman and former commissioner Jerry Wright.

“It does seem to follow that pattern,” he said.

Wright’s business partners and clients often fly into Currituck now instead of Elizabeth City as they once did, he said.

More hangar space, especially for corporate aircraft, and single- point jet fueling are the most pressing needs, Winebarger said. The county has plans to lease a tank truck soon for single-point fueling and to build another set of hangars, Leary said.

Two corporate aircraft and 17 smaller planes rent hangars now. Others rent outdoor tie-down spaces. At least 20 are on a waiting list for hangar space.

The airport offers self-service tanks, but most pilots for corporate jet aircraft wear uniforms and don’t want to bother with fueling, Leary said.

Aircraft typically have multiple tanks. Self-service refueling requires inserting the nozzle in each tank.

Single-point fueling, typically operated from a truck, allows for refueling all tanks from one opening.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-6975,

jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com

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